A UN-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia has convicted two elderly former Khmer Rouge leaders of crimes against humanity and sentenced them to life in prison for their disastrous and brutal rule in the southeast Asian nation from 1975-1979.

Nuon Chea served as Pol Pot's deputy and the ideological driving force within the Khmer Rouge regime.  Khieu Samphan was the head of state.  They emptied the nation’s cities in a drive to create a pure agrarian society, forcing people to work in rural co-operatives.  Two million people died of overwork and starvation caused by idiotic policies, while others – intellectuals, minorities, former officials and their families – were eliminated for being enemies of the state.

Prosecutors said Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan came up with the policies and directed its brutal execution.  They denied the charges.  In the trial’s closing statements last year, each expressed remorse but claimed they knew nothing of the deaths.