Nuon Chea

Nuon Chea (Khmer: នួន ជា; born 7 July 1926), also known as Long Bunruot (Khmer: ឡុង ប៊ុនរត្ន) or Rungloet Laodi (Thai: รุ่งเลิศ เหล่าดี), is a Cambodian former communist politician who was the chief ideologist of the Khmer Rouge.

He was commonly known as "Brother Number Two", as he was second-in-command to Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot during the Cambodian Genocide of 1975–1979. On 7 August 2014, Nuon Chea received a life sentence for crimes against humanity, alongside another top-tier Khmer Rouge leader, Khieu Samphan. Nuon Chea is the oldest living former Prime Minister and the oldest of the last surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.

Early life

Nuon Chea was born as Lau Kim Lorn at Voat Kor, Battambang in 1926. Nuon's father, Lao Liv, worked as a trader as well as a corn farmer, while his mother, Dos Peanh, was a tailor. An interview by a Japanese researcher in 2003 with Nuon Chea quoted that Liv was of Chinese ethnicity while Peanh was the daughter of a Chinese immigrant from Shantou and his Khmer wife, while Chea had separately quoted that Liv was half-Chinese and Peanh was of full Khmer extraction during a trial proceeding in December 2011. As a child, Nuon Chea was raised in both Chinese and Khmer customs. The family prayed at a Theravada Buddhist temple, but observed Chinese religious customs during the Lunar New Year and Qingming festival. Nuon Chea started school at seven, and was educated in Thai, French and Khmer.