Pen Sovan

Pen Sovan (Khmer: ប៉ែន សុវណ្ណ; 15 April 1936 – 29 October 2016) was a Cambodian communist politician who briefly served as the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) from 1981.

Born in Tram Kak District, Takeo Province, he joined the Khmer Issarak movement in 1949 to fight against French colonial rule. He later went into exile in Vietnam and became involved in the Vietnamese communist movement.

Following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1978 and the subsequent overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, Pen Sovan played a key role in establishing the PRK, a Vietnamese-backed government. He served as its vice-president and minister of defense before being appointed Prime Minister in June 1981.

His tenure as Prime Minister was short-lived. In December 1981, he was removed from power and imprisoned in Vietnam, reportedly due to disagreements over the level of Vietnamese influence in Cambodia. The official reason cited by the PRK government was health reasons.

Pen Sovan was released from prison in 1992, following the Paris Peace Accords, which aimed to bring an end to the Cambodian-Vietnamese War and establish a framework for peace and reconciliation. Upon his return to Cambodia, he joined the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), the ruling party that emerged from the PRK.

He was elected as a member of the National Assembly in 1998 and served as a parliamentarian until his death in 2016. He remained a figure of controversy due to his association with the Vietnamese-backed government and the circumstances surrounding his removal from power. His legacy is viewed differently by various segments of Cambodian society. Some see him as a patriot who helped liberate the country from the Khmer Rouge, while others criticize him for his association with the Vietnamese occupation.