Cambodian Genocide - The Khmer Rouge period (1975–1979) refers to the rule of Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, Khieu Samphan and the Khmer Rouge Communist party over Cambodia, which the Khmer Rouge renamed as Democratic Kampuchea. In this period the Khmer Rouge government arrested, tortured and eventually executed anyone suspected of belonging to several categories of supposed 'enemies'. The four-year period cost approximately 2 million lives through the combined result of political executions, starvation, and forced labor. Due to the large numbers, the deaths during the rule of the Khmer Rouge are often considered a genocide, and commonly known as the Cambodian Holocaust or Cambodian Genocide.