Bou Meng (1941-2026), the death of a survivorPhoto by Anya Juárez Tenorio on Pexels
World

Bou Meng (1941-2026), the death of a survivor

Público30 August 2026 at 08:24

Bou Meng died in 2026, at the age of 84 or 85, having been born in 1941. He was one of the last survivors of the torture and imprisonment imposed by Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia.

Bou Meng survived the Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21, one of the most sinister sites of the Khmer Rouge regime, where thousands of people were tortured and executed. His survival made him a privileged witness to the crimes of that period.

His death represents the loss of one of the voices that could still directly testify to the horrors of Pol Pot's regime, which governed Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 and was responsible for the death of approximately two million people. This text is a chronicle by António Araújo.

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