Bou Meng, Khmer Rouge torture center survivor, dies at 85

Bou Meng, a Cambodian painter and one of the few survivors of the Khmer Rouge’s Tuol Sleng interrogation and torture center (S-21), has died at the age of 85. His death was confirmed by the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

During the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979, approximately 1.7 million people died. Of the 14,000 people arrested and interrogated at Tuol Sleng, nearly all were eventually sent to killing fields. Bou Meng was spared execution after being identified for his painting skills; he was tasked with painting portraits of Pol Pot, Marx, and Lenin to ensure his survival.

In his later years, Bou Meng became a prominent figure at the genocide museum, serving as a living symbol of the atrocities. He also testified in the trial of the prison's commandant, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who was sentenced to life in prison.