Khmer Times

Phnom Penh – Bou Meng, one of only a handful of people to survive Cambodia’s notorious Tuol Sleng prison, has died at the age of 85.

An artist by trade, Bou Meng was spared execution in the late 1970s because of his ability to paint portraits of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader whose regime killed an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians through starvation, forced labour and mass executions.

The U.N.-backed tribunal that prosecuted Khmer Rouge leaders confirmed his death on Friday, citing age-related illness. “The passing of Mr Bou Meng represents the loss of an important historical witness to the grave crimes committed during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime,” the court said.

Tuol Sleng, also known as S‑21, was a former high school turned torture centre where more than 16,000 men, women and children were detained before being executed. Bou Meng endured nearly two years there, surviving brutal torture before being assigned to paint portraits of communist leaders. His testimony in 2009 helped convict Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, the prison’s commandant, who was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Bou Meng’s personal losses were devastating. His first wife was arrested alongside him and never seen again, while his two children disappeared in the countryside, presumed killed. In later years, he remarried and often returned to Tuol Sleng – now a genocide museum – to share his story and sell copies of his memoir.

Youk Chhang, head of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, said Bou Meng’s journey “will not be forgotten by genocide history around the world,” urging continued efforts to preserve survivors’ accounts.

For Cambodians, his death marks the passing of another living witness to one of the 20th century’s darkest chapters – a reminder of the importance of memory in the fight against denial and forgetting.

-2026-08-17

Very sad.

I had the privilege of meeting him several years ago at Tuol Sleng (Station 21) in Phnom Penh where he signed my copy of his book.