PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, July 21 (UPI) -- Ta Mok, known as "The Butcher" during the Khmer Rouge's genocide in Cambodia in the 1970s, has died at age 80 before facing trial for his alleged crimes.
Ta Mok, who had vehemently denied any role in the slaughter of the estimated 1.7 million people, died in a Phnom Penh military hospital while awaiting trial, reports The Los Angeles Times.
Ta Mok had maintained that other Khmer Rouge commanders were responsible for Cambodia's "killing fields," that followed the Khmer Rouge take over the country in 1975.
Ta Mok, who had been the second in command of the Khmer Rouge, was linked to the elimination of entire villages, forced labor camps, mass executions and torture chambers, the report said.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen called Ta Mok the "Hitler of Cambodia."
Born into a peasant family, Ta Mok, like many poor young Cambodians in the 1930s, became a Buddhist monk because pagodas offered food and shelter, the report said. At age 16, he joined the resistance movement against the French colonialists.
Ta Mok was arrested in March 1999 crossing into northern Cambodia from Thailand and charged with genocide.
