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A Thai court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering a prominent political dissident from Cambodia in the Thai capital.

In January, hours after Lim Kimya arrived in the capital city of Thailand with his wife, he was shot dead in a public area by Thai national Ekkalak Paenoi. Ekkalak then escaped to the neighboring country, where he was apprehended and deported.

The defendant had initially been handed the capital punishment, but that was commuted to a life sentence because of his confession to the murder, the court said on Friday.

The motive for Lim Kimya's killing is still unknown - though it has been broadly believed to be a politically driven assassination.

Political Context in the Country

Dissident figures and campaigners are often imprisoned and intimidated in the nation, where government officials have little tolerance for opposition views.

Lim Kimya, who had citizenship in both Cambodia and France, was a ex-lawmaker from Cambodia's main opposition party, the CNRP.

This political party had come close to overthrowing the long-ruling party of ex-leader the previous prime minister in the year 2013.

After Hun Sen accused the opposition party of betrayal, the party was outlawed in 2017 and its supporters were barred from taking part in political engagements.

The current PM of Cambodia the new leader - who took over from his father Hun Sen in 2023 - has denied that the administration was implicated in the assassination.

Details of the Case

Security camera footage from January showed the convicted man stopping his motorcycle, removing his helmet and walking calmly across the street before shots rang out.

Ekkalak was also convicted of possessing and firing a firearm, and ordered to pay around 55,000 US dollars (40,800 British pounds) to the victim's relatives.

The tribunal dismissed a accusation against a second suspect - a Thai citizen accused of driving the killer to the border with Cambodia after the incident - on the grounds that he was only a driver who did not have knowledge of the killing.

Reactions and Broader Implications

The lawyer for the widow of the victim told news agency AFP that she was "probably satisfied" with the court's decision, though she was "still questioning who ordered the crime".

"She wants authorities to fully investigate the matter."

In the past few years dozens of activists fleeing repression in Southeast Asian nations have been sent back after requesting asylum, or in certain instances have been murdered or disappeared.

Human rights groups believe there is an tacit understanding among the four adjacent nations to permit each other's security forces to pursue opponents over the border.