Editing Pol Pot (section)

=== Downfall ===
When in power, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge forces invaded Vietnam, which resulted in Vietnam coming into Cambodian territory. They succeeded in removing Pol Pot from power in January 1979, however he remained the leader of the Khmer Rouge until 1985, when he ceded power to Khieu Samphan. Despite this, he continued to have major influence within the Khmer Rouge for a number of years. 
[[File:Photograph depicted Khmer Rouge victims at Toul Sleng Genocide Museum.webp|thumb|Several victims of his regime who passed through the infamous Tuol Sleng prison to be tortured and killed under [[Kang Kek Iew]] ]]
In 1996, Ieng Sary and Nuon Chea lead a wave of defections from the Khmer Rouge to the Cambodian government, now under the rule of the [[Cambodian People's Party]] and Prime Minister [[Hun Sen]] (himself a former Khmer Rouge cadre.) Fearing that they would turn him over, Pol Pot fled into the forests along Cambodia's border with Thailand.