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Nicknamed "The Butcher", he was the regime's military commander and linked to many atrocities of the 1970s.
About 1.7 million people died under the Khmer Rouge, through a combination of starvation, disease and execution.
Ta Mok was expected to be one of the first people tried for genocide and crimes against humanity at UN-backed hearings due to start next year.
He was one of only two surviving Khmer Rouge commanders in detention, and with most of the remaining figures from the regime in poor health, some analysts question whether the trials have been left too late to see justice served.
Brutal legacy
"Ta Mok passed away this morning," military doctor Tuoth Nara told reporters. "He was an old man and died of natural causes, given his poor health and respiratory problems."
| | We are saddened by his death Morm Mol, Ta Mok's nephew |
Ta Mok, who was in his 80s, had been unwell since last month, suffering from high blood pressure and tuberculosis, and slipped into a coma last week.
"We are saddened by his death," said his nephew, 33-year-old Morm Mol, as he announced the news to reporters outside the Phnom Penh hospital.
Of all the Khmer Rouge leaders, Ta Mok was regarded by many as the most brutal, the BBC's Guy Delauney reports from Phnom Penh.
He played a key role in a series of massacres and purges, which started even before the Khmer Rouge took power.
Ta Mok was in charge of the forces which destroyed the former royal capital Oudong in 1974, expelling civilians and killing officials and government soldiers.
Later he instigated purges as the Khmer Rouge went to war with itself.
He eventually became the overall leader of the organisation in 1997, but he was captured two years later and spent the rest of his life in jail.
Evading trial
Ta Mok's death leaves a Khmer Rouge prison boss, Kaing Khek Iev, more commonly known as Duch, as the group's only surviving leader in detention.
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Pol Pot died in his jungle hide-out in April 1998 from an apparent heart attack.
Many Cambodians fear they will never get a chance to see justice, because ageing Khmer Rouge defendants are dying before they face trial.
Earlier this month, judges and prosecutors from both Cambodia and other nations were sworn in for the UN-backed tribunal, which is due to start in 2007.
A spokesman for the tribunal, Reach Sambath, said on Friday that a "key resource of information" had passed away.
When he heard of Ta Mok's death, Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group researching the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, said: "It's sad news - it's outrageous."
"Some people may be happy with this, but not the victims who have been waiting for justice for a long time," he told the Associated Press.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/5201770.stm
Published: 2006/07/21 04:56:25 GMT
© BBC MMVI
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On one hand the retired king questioned the necessity of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT); on the other hand one of the most important criminal, I would say, Ta Mok passed away this morning.
I was told in this morning by my former colleague, and I was not happy with his death because he just passed away naturally. In my mind he should be put in judge finally and get his punishment before he's gone. Now he just rests in peace and I am not satisfied at all.
I know the KRT in fact is not going to heal people's pain, but at least the people who suffered deserve justice. Everybody deserves so why do they have to wait for this long time and can only look at all the important Khmer Rouge people died peacefull?
There only remains Duch now, and I really wish he would not have gone so soon before he faces the trial. It is hard to accept that if he would have gone like Ta Mok.
I am still loving this country, notwithstanding all of these frustrating facts.
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