Two senior managers of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia received their sentences to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity by the Cambodian court on Wednesday.

Nuon Chea, also known as "Brother Two", and Khieu Sampan, or "Brother Four" were convicted in August of 2014, before a specially-convened Cambodian court. Both men urged the court to cancel a sentence of life imprisonment.

Nuon Chea and Samphan Khieu were two of the most senior leaders of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, in power from 1975 to 1979. About a quarter of the population of Cambodia, at least 1.7 million people believed to have died during this period, from forced labour, starvation and torture. The justice center and responsible attorney who represented the victims of the Khmer Rouge in Diaspora USA in the Extraordinary chambers in the courts of Cambodia , said they welcomed the verdict.

During his stay in power, the Khmer Rouge regime tried to create a purely agrarian society by a ruthless social policy. In 2001, the National Assembly of Cambodia voted for the establishment of a special court to try to understand the crimes of the regime.

"No action can dispel melancholy, sadness and regret which haunt survivors to this day," writes a former prisoner of the Khmer Rouge EC Chang. "After 35 years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, we still see the consequences of this period in almost every aspect of Cambodian society."
sections: Politics, World News, Accidents, Accidents