Cambodia is a country in the eastern region of Asia, lying between its neighboring countries, Thailand in the northwest, Vietnam in the east and Laos located in the northern part. Cambodia has a dark past that many people in today's society are unaware of. A past so frightening that it still has effects on the country today. Cambodia is the country where one of the most atrocious acts ever occurred in the world. During the 1970s Cambodia was plagued by an act of genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge so horrific that it nearly decimated the entire Cambodian population. During the 1960s and 1970s Cambodia was engulfed in battles for authority mainly between two political organizations. One political organization was the Khmer Republic. The Khmer Republic disagreed on the direction its country was taking at the hands of its monarch. As a result, members of the Khmer Republic began a rebellion against the monarch in an attempt to dethrone him and gain political strength. Another was the Communist Party of Kampuchea, better known as the Khmer Rouge, with the unpleasant intentions of starting its ideology. Cambodia is a country held captive for four grueling years by the Khmer Rouge. The intention of this organization was to return the country to an agrarian society composed of farmers dedicated to agriculture. This political organization was led by a man with the radical name Pol Pot. This communist regime would undoubtedly have massacred more citizens if it were not for the invasion of Cambodia by the Vietnamese army. This invasion ended the horror of the Cambodian population and the rule of terror by the Khmer Rouge. The leader of the Khmer Rouge was a man named Sa… these structures. The families of the prisoners were also tortured to force them to confess. Prisoners in these facilities were often malnourished. Some even committed suicide to avoid being tortured and forced to confess. “The prisoners were selected from all over the country, and were usually former members and soldiers of the Khmer Rouge, accused of treason.” (Miller). During the operation of the prisons, 14,200 prisoners entered S-21. “Of the 14,000 people who entered, only seven survived.” (S21). This facility used many different types of torture methods ranging from removing nails from the prisoner's joints, drowning, electrocution, using hot metal objects to burn the prisoner, and/or hanging. Finally in 1979 this facility was closed after the invasion of the Vietnamese army.