contradicted by detailed documentation left behind by the Khmer Rouge regime itself, including bizarre "confessions" extracted under torture at Tuol Sleng and photographs of purge victims, as well as a recording made by a Cambodian journalist prior to Chea's 2007 arrest in which Chea admitted: "Believe me, if these traitors were alive, the Khmers as a people would have been finished. ... If we had shown mercy to these people, the nation would have been lost." Death Nuon Chea died on 4 August 2019 at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh, aged 93. He had been hospitalized since 2 July for lack of blood-flow to his toe which turned black. Chea's circulation was not delivering blood properly to it. Lack of proper blood flow brought infection of his toe which eventually killed him, most likely by causing sepsis of blood and eventual multiple organs failure. His body was later brought to Sala Krau, Pailin, before cremation in accordance with Buddhist tradition. See also Enemies of the People Cambodian genocide References External links Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia 571-page closing brief, Chea’s version of Khmer Rouge history The Rape Of Khmer Muslim Women "Brother Number Two Enjoys Retirement" Full Transcript Cambodia Tribunal Monitor Documentary Feature Film featuring interviews with Nuon Chea |- 1926 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Cambodian politicians Cambodian Buddhists Cambodian communists Cambodian revolutionaries Khmer Rouge party members Cambodian politicians convicted of crimes Cambodian people convicted of crimes against humanity Cambodian politicians of Chinese descent Cambodian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Communist Party of Kampuchea politicians Nuon Chea Genocide perpetrators People convicted by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal People convicted of genocide People from Battambang province Presidents of the National Assembly (Cambodia) Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Cambodia Nuon Chea Heads of government who were later imprisoned Prisoners who died in Cambodian detention