Sam Rainsy was born in
Phnom Penh on 10 March 1949. He moved to
France in 1965, studied there and then worked as an investment manager and executive director in a variety of
Parisian financial companies. He became a member of the
Funcinpec Party, and after returning to Cambodia in 1992 was elected a member of parliament for
Siem Reap Province the following year. He became Minister of Finance, but was expelled from the party after losing a vote of no-confidence in 1994. In 1995, he founded the Khmer Nation Party (KNP), which changed its name before the 1998 elections to the
Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) to avoid registration issues. as director of the Beoung Trabek prison, where torture and murder was carried out. Hor Namhong responded by suing Rainsy for defamation and this was upheld by Cambodia's courts, but Hor Namhong's case was rejected in April 2011 by France's Cour de Cassation. Following Rainsy's announcement on 7 July 2013, that he would return to Cambodia for the national legislative elections, he was pardoned for the "defamation" of Hor Namhong by King
Norodom Sihamoni at the request of Hun Sen Rainsy proposed the National Assembly to formally recognize an official opposition and pushed for a full
shadow cabinet. Such changes would allow him to debate directly with Hun Sen, similar to the
Westminster system. On 13 November 2015, the royal pardon that had been given to Rainsy in 2013 over the "defamation" of Hor Namhong was withdrawn. Three days later, he was unanimously removed from the National Assembly by the
Cambodian People's Party while facing several charges. that Hor Namhong had been responsible for prison deaths under the Khmer Rouge. On 1 December 2015, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court summoned Sam Rainsy in absentia to clarify a statement he posted to his Facebook account following a defamation complaint by parliamentary president Heng Samrin. Less than two weeks earlier, the same court had issued another summons for Sam Rainsy to appear for questioning over his alleged involvement in using a fake map to resolve a border dispute with Vietnam. On 11 February 2017, Rainsy resigned as President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party following a proposed amendment by Hun Sen barring convicted criminals from leading a political party. His successor as leader, Kem Sokha, was arrested on 3 September 2017, and, as of March 2018, remains in prison without trial. Sam Rainsy responded by creating the Cambodia National Rescue Movement (CNRM), which seeks to increase international pressure on the Hun Sen regime. The US said in February 2018 that it was suspending or curtailing programs that support the Cambodian military, local government authorities and a major taxation body. Germany in February 2018 suspended visas for Cambodian government members in light of the crackdown on the opposition. In the same month, the EU said it was considering targeted measures against the Hun Sen regime. In March 2018, Kem Sokha's period of detention without trial was extended for six months, meaning that he will be in prison when the country's national parliamentary elections scheduled for July 2018 takes place. In the same month, Hun Sen rejected a proposal from Sam Rainsy for talks on a way of ending the crisis. In August 2019, Rainsy announced his intention to return to Cambodia on
Independence Day on 9 November. The government confirmed that they would arrest him should he return on that date. The Cambodian government responded by threatening any airline that transported him to Cambodia with "serious consequences". In October 2020, Rainsy and the CNRP denounced China's military expansionism which involved agreement to establish military bases in Cambodia following the demolition of a US-built facility at the
Ream Naval Base. == Family ==