Khieu Samphan
Khieu Samphan | |
|---|---|
| ខៀវ សំផន | |
Samphan in 2014 | |
| Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of National Union and National Salvation of Cambodia | |
| In office 1994–1998 | |
| Leader of the Cambodian National Unity Party | |
| In office 1992–1997 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Himself (as Leader of the Khmer National Solidarity Party) |
| General Secretary of the Party of Democratic Kampuchea | |
| In office 1985–1993 | |
| Preceded by | Pol Pot |
| Succeeded by | Himself (as Leader of the Cambodian National Unity Party) |
| Chairman of the State Presidium of Democratic Kampuchea | |
| In office 11 April 1976 – 7 January 1979 | |
| Prime Minister | Pol Pot |
| Deputy | So Phim Nhim Ros |
| Leader | Pol Pot (CPK General Secretary) |
| Preceded by | Norodom Sihanouk (as President of the State Presidium) |
| Succeeded by | Heng Samrin (as Chairman of the People's Revolutionary Council) |
| Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea | |
| Acting 4 April 1976 – 14 April 1976 | |
| President | Norodom Sihanouk |
| Leader | Pol Pot (CPK General Secretary) |
| Preceded by | Penn Nouth |
| Succeeded by | Pol Pot |
| Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of the Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea | |
| In office 5 May 1970 – 14 July 1975 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 July 1931 |
| Party | |
| Spouse | So Socheat |
| Alma mater | University of Montpellier (BEc) University of Paris (PhD) |
| Criminal information | |
| Convictions | |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment (2014) |
Khieu Samphan (Khmer: ខៀវ សំផន; born 27 July 1931) is a Cambodian former politician, economist, and revolutionary who was Chairman of the State Presidium of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until 1979. As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, although Pol Pot remained the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. On 7 August 2014, along with other members of the regime, he was convicted and received a life sentence for crimes against humanity during the Cambodian genocide, and a further trial found him guilty of genocide in 2018.
Prior to joining the Khmer Rouge, he was a member of Norodom Sihanouk's Sangkum government. After the 1967 leftist rebellion, Sihanouk ordered the arrest of leftists including Samphan, who fled into hiding until the Khmer Rouge takeover in 1975. Samphan succeeded Pol Pot as leader of the Khmer Rouge in 1985, and served in this position until 1998.
Samphan is the oldest living former prime minister and the last surviving senior member of the Khmer Rouge following the deaths of Nuon Chea in August 2019 and Kang Kek Iew in September 2020.