The killer was waiting in a noodle shop on a busy street in Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon. In video footage released by Thai police, he walked towards a bus traveling across the border with Cambodia when it stopped. According to witnesses, three shots like fireworks were heard. Later, the killer accidentally returned to the noodle stand where his motorcycle was kept and left the crime scene.
The victim was Lim Kimya, 73, a former lawmaker from the popular Cambodia National Rescue Party. It was crushed by the Hun Dynasty who ruled the Southeast Asian country for forty years.
Thai police said they were still investigating the murder and that an arrest warrant had been issued for the suspect. But members of Cambodia's suppressed political opposition say their ranks have suffered dozens of arrests, detentions and assassinations for daring to stand up to the Hun family.
They say the killing of Mr Lim Kimian echoes the political violence that has turned Cambodia into a country where independent thinkers fear for their lives and internationally acclaimed environmentalists have fled into exile.
Um Sam An, a former CNRP MP in political exile in the US, called Mr Lim Kimian's death a “political assassination”.
“Dictators around the world are increasingly resorting to transnational repression,” said Sam Rainsy, a one-time president of the party and himself a target of multiple assassination attempts.
After officially taking over from his father two years ago, He is SenThe Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Manet, a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, demonstrated. little evidence of ejaculation the family's strong hold on power. Arrests of dissidents continue. On Tuesday, the day Mr Lim Kimya was killed, Mr Hun Sen, who still presides over the Cambodian Senate, pushed for a law that would treat political dissent as terrorism.
Mr Lim Kimya, a dual citizen of France and Cambodia, was traveling overland from Cambodia to neighboring Thailand with his French wife. She stood by his side with blood splattered on her face as Thai paramedics tried unsuccessfully to perform CPR.
On Wednesday, the Thai Criminal Court issued a warrant for Ekaluck Paenoi, 41, the motorcyclist it claims was responsible for the fatal shooting.
Cambodian government spokesman Pen Bona said that since the murder took place in Thailand, journalists' questions should be directed to the Thai authorities.
For more than thirty years, Mr. Lim Kimya was a civil servant in France, working in the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He studied statistics in France, Cambodia's former colonial power, after leaving home in the 1970s when the country began to descend into anarchy under the radical communist Khmer Rouge. He eventually returned to Cambodia and joined opposition political parties, including the CNRP
Mr Lim Kimya was elected to the National Assembly in 2013, four years before the party was expelled by Cambodia's supreme court.
Mr. Hun Sen was a junior official in the Khmer Rouge, which oversaw the deaths of up to a quarter of Cambodia's population. After its fall, he rose to power, ousting his political rivals and becoming the world's longest-serving prime minister before handing power to his eldest son. while Cambodia's economy has developed rapidly In recent years, there has also been corruption and kleptocracy supported by China.
Last month, Mr. Lim Kimya wrote about this on his Facebook page The dramatic overthrow of Bashar al-AssadSyrian dictator who inherited power from his father. He drew attention to the family character of Assad's political dynasty. He wrote about the evils of autocracy. It didn't need a direct comparison with Cambodia to offend the critics.
“Mr. Lim Kimya was a highly educated, patriotic man who served both his motherland and his second country, France,” says Kem Monovitya, his daughter in exile. Sokha ice creamanother former opposition leader under house arrest in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, who was convicted of treason and sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Thailand's capital, Bangkok, is both a magnet for political dissidents from near-autocratic countries and a breeding ground for deportations and forced relocations that human rights groups say border on illegality. In November, 7 Cambodians registered with the United Nations Refugee Agency were forcibly sent home by Thai authorities. After their return, six of the seven – one of whom was a child – were charged with treason in a Cambodian court.
Thailand is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and therefore does not officially recognize asylum seekers. Thai authorities have returned asylum seekers and others seeking asylum there to Vietnam, Laos, China and other countries with repressive governments.
Hundreds of Cambodian dissidents have flocked to Thailand in recent months, but have been deterred by forced deportations and the killing of Mr Lim Kimian last year.
Political activist Khem Monykosal, 52, fled persecution in Cambodia two years ago. He said that despite being registered with the UN Refugee Agency, he barely left the room where he took refuge in Thailand. He was worried about the possibility of political assassinations. Then came the killing of Mr Lim Kimian on Tuesday.
“I am very concerned about my safety as an asylum seeker in Thailand,” he said. “There are planned plans to kill.”
The Sun is delicate Reported from Phnom Penh, Cambodia Muktita Suhartono From Bangkok.