Bangkok – A Thai shooter was sentenced to life on Friday for the murder of a Cambodian opposition politician in Bangkok, with the widow of the former legislator who left the murder.
Lim Kimya, 74, former legislator and member of the National Rescue Party of the opposition Cambodge (CNRP) as well as a frank critic of the Cambodian leader Vétéran Hun Sen, was shot down by Aekaluck Paenoi, a former Thai street, in images captured on television in closed circuit in the afternoon of January 7 on a street animated in Bangkok.
Two Cambodian suspects remain sought after by the Thai authorities for their alleged involvement. The interpol “Red Opinion” and “Red Reviews” were issued in January.
Cambodian opposition personalities accused the former country leader, Hun Sen, of having ordered the shooting, and the widow of Lim Kimya called this week for full accounting who was behind.
Aekaluck was sentenced to a potential death sentence in Thailand for premeditated murder, but a judge said on Friday that the Bangkok court had reduced his sentence to life imprisonment since he had confessed. A man who provided transport to Aekaluck during the escape was acquitted.
The widow of Lim Kimya, Anne-Marie Lim, also known as Lim Ani, who was called witness to the opening of the trial on Tuesday, was not present at the verdict. The judges also judged that the Aekaluck paid 1.7 million baht (US $ 52,452) to the family of Lim Kimya.
“Anne-Marie is probably satisfied with today’s verdict, but she still wonders who ordered crime,” her lawyer Nadhthasiri Bergman said on Friday. “She wants the authorities to arrive at the bottom of this.”
In January, Thai police identified two Cambodian suspects whom they believe to be involved in the murder: Ly Ratanakrasksmey, accused of having recruited the shooter, and Pich Kimsrin, the alleged Belvéd that local media reported was on the bus alongside the victim and his wife.
A few days after the murder, according to the media according to which Ratanakrasksmey was a former adviser to Hun Sen, the Cambodia party published a statement saying that he was dismissed from the role in March 2024.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, who is the eldest son of Hun Sen, and other representatives of the government have denied any official involvement.
“I always think that there is something that the police could do to investigate and try to bring the two additional people who (are) already identified in a justice process,” Bergman told journalists.
In February, Lim Ani told Rfa Khmer that her husband’s murder was “definitively political”.
“He exposed the injustices that occurred in Cambodia,” she said.
Earlier this year, Thai officials published arrest mandates against two alleged Cambodian accomplices during the shooting. An interior ministry spokesman told RFA Khmer that the Cambodian Constitution did not allow the extradition of Cambodian nationals.
Am Sam Ath, director of operations of the Cambodian rights group, Licadho, told the AFP news agency that the perpetuity conviction for the Thai shooter had done partial justice to Lim Kimya, who was a double French and Cambodian citizen.
“Since Lim Kimya is also Cambodian, we want to see that the Thai authorities and the Thai court are conducting additional investigations to do justice to him,” Sam Ath said.
“We want to see an investigation into the people involved (in the murder).”
With report by AFP and Reuters.