Pen Sovann

ប៉ែន សុវាន
Cambodia Cambodia 1936–2016

First prime minister of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party

Removed and arrested on 2 December 1981, he formally held the posts of prime minister and party general secretary until 5 December, when Heng Samrin became general secretary and Chan Sy acting prime minister.

A Cambodian politician who broke with the Khmer Rouge and cooperated with Vietnam. One of the founding leaders of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation in 1978, he led the building of party and administrative structures as the People's Revolutionary Party's general secretary after the 1979 regime change. He became prime minister in June 1981 but was removed and arrested under Vietnamese pressure that December and was held until 1992.

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