Father François Ponchaud – who died in France aged 86 last week – has been remembered by colleagues and friends as a Catholic priest who worked tirelessly to revive Cambodia from the 1975-79 devastation wrought by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
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Former information minister Khieu Kanharith credited Ponchaud as “the first to draw world attention” to the plight of Cambodians living under the Khmer Rouge through his book Cambodge année zero (Cambodia: Year Zero), which was published in France in 1977 and translated into eight languages.
French academic Henri Locard agreed. “His Cambodia: Year Zero was the first and best book on deciphering Democratic Kampuchea, the most vicious totalitarian regime on the planet,” Locard said.
In full: https://www.ucanews.com/news/french-missionary-remembered-for-exposing-khmer-rouge/107617
