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Khmer Rouge survivor's paintings saved his life

Source: AP (7-1-09)

A survivor of the Khmer Rouge's main prison said Wednesday that his ability to paint larger-than-life images of the regime's late leader, Pol Pot, and portraits of other communist icons helped save his life.

Bou Meng is one of only three living survivors of S-21 prison — all of them apparently spared because of skills deemed useful to the "killing fields" regime of the 1970s.
The artist was put to work painting portraits that glorified Mao Zedong of China and North Korea's Kim Il Sung and another that mocked Ho Chi Minh, the father of Vietnam's communist revolution.

Posted on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 1:53 AM | Comments (0) | Return

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