Sam Rainsy, born on 10 March 1949 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is the leader of the Sam Rainsy Party in Cambodia.

Sam Rainsy moved to France in 1965 and began his academic and working life in Paris, where he ran his own accountancy firm. He began his political career with Prince Ranariddh’s Funcinpec Party, becoming a European representative for the Prince in 1989.

Sam Rainsy returned to Cambodia in 1992 and became the Finance Minister after Funcinpec’s success in the 1993 elections. But in 1994, he was expelled from the party following a vote of no confidence against him. He was stripped of his seat in parliament and a year later founded his own party, the Khmer Nation Party, which changed its name before the 1998 elections to the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP).

In the 2003 poll, the Sam Rainsy Party won 22 percent of the votes, becoming the second party behind Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodia People’s Party. After an eleven-month stalemate, in which none of the three main parties could agree on how to form a new coalition government, Funcinpec leader Prince Ranariddh agreed to a deal with Hun Sen. Sam Rainsy Party MPs boycotted the National Assembly, claiming the two other parties violated constitutional procedures in forming the new government.

Sam Rainsy went into self-exile, leaving Cambodia for Paris on 3 February 2005, citing fear of arrest following a vote in the National Assembly, which removed parliamentary immunity from him and fellow SRP MPs Chea Poch and Cheam Channy. Sam Rainsy faced multiple criminal defamation charges after accusing the Cambodia People’s Party and Funcinpec of corruption in the formation of the current government. The United States Senator McConnell described the move of the ruling coalition as “outrageous and unacceptable”. The US Embassy in Phnom Penh said it was “deeply concerned” that the government appeared to be trying to “silence the opposition”.

Sam Rainsy was put on trial in absentia on 22 December 2005 in relation to the defamation lawsuits and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. On 5 February 2006, however, Sam Rainsy received a royal pardon by King Norodom Sihamoni on Prime Minister Hun Sen’s request. He then returned to Cambodia on 10 February 2006.

During the last decade, Sam Rainsy has been Cambodia’s leading champion of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Sam Rainsy’s activism has not been without risk: he has been a target of assassination three times. While his life faces danger, Sam Rainsy continues to fight to implement freedom and democracy in the face of the dictatorship of Cambodia. Liberal International thus is honoured to award Sam Rainsy Liberal International’s prestigious Prize for Freedom for 2006.

Main Image:  Nov Povleakhena/VOA Khmer, Wikimedia Commons