Updated Jan. 13, 2025, 3:51 p.m. ET
Thai police on Monday charged with premeditated murder the main suspect in the killing of a Cambodian government critic gunned down last week near a busy Bangkok street.
A gunman shot dead Lim Kimya, 74, a former member of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, on Jan. 7 in Bangkok’s old quarter. He died at the scene.
Police identified the suspected killer as Aekaluck Paenoi, a former Thai navy officer who worked as a motorcycle taxi driver. Cambodian police arrested him in the western border province of Battambang the day after the shooting and sent him back to Thailand on Saturday.
“We have charged him with three counts, premeditated murder, illegally carrying weapons in public areas and unlawful discharge of firearms,” Police Lt. Col. Sanong Sangmanee told reporters.
Sanong and investigators from the National Crime Suppression Center escorted Aekaluck to Bangkok’s Criminal Court on Monday for a pre-trial detention hearing.
The suspect showed no emotion during his court appearance and declined to respond to questions from reporters. His mother, speaking briefly to the media before the hearing, said friends had arranged legal representation.
“I haven’t seen him yet, he said he wanted to be strong first, and then we’ll talk,” said the mother, who declined to be identified.
Justice Minster Tawee Sodsong said Aekaluck would be transferred to Bangkok’s Special Prison where he would be held under special guard.
“The facility will implement comprehensive monitoring measures, including constant CCTV surveillance ... thorough risk assessment will also be conducted,” the minister confirmed.
Thai authorities are also hunting for a second suspect who they have identified as Pich Kimsrin, a Cambodian who police believe acted as a spotter in the assassination. His whereabouts are not known.
Thai media outlets have also released CCTV footage showing the 24-year-old Pich Kimsrin shadowing Lim Kimya and his family in Bangkok and riding the same cross-border bus.
Lim Kimya, who had dual French-Cambodian citizenship, was an outspoken critic of Cambodia’s veteran strongman leader, Hun Sen. He had arrived in Thailand by bus from Cambodia’s Siem Reap province with his French wife and Cambodian uncle shortly before he was killed.
Cambodian connection
CCTV footage shows who Thai police believe to be Pich Kimsrin at the scene of the murder but it is unclear if Cambodian officials have initiated an investigation into him. Cambodian authorities have told Radio Free Asia they will investigate the case only following a request from their Thai counterparts.
While Cambodian officials remain silent on the suspected involvement of Pich Kimsrin in the killing, opposition activists and other Cambodians have been using open source information to, first, identify him, and then try to understand more about his background.
Pich Kimsrin is the brother of Pich Sros, a politician who initiated proceedings against the CNRP that led to its 2017 dissolution.
A review of publicly available information by RFA reveals that Pich Kimsrin was the deputy head of the administration running the Phsar Kandal market in Phnom Penh, according to a since-deleted post on the market’s Facebook page.
Additionally, one of Pich Kimsrin’s Facebook accounts shows that he started his career as a journalist for a pro-government news outlet called Fast News Daily, where he wrote sports and entertainment stories that have since been deleted from the news site.
Rights activists and Cambodian government critics said the shooting of Lim Kimya bore the hallmarks of a political assassination
Cambodia’s authoritarian government has for decades crushed virtually all dissent. Its opponents have accused it of numerous killings over the years, which it has denied.
Deputy Interior Ministry spokesman Touch Sokheak told RFA that Cambodian authorities are willing to cooperate with Thai authorities in the investigation. He added that Cambodian authorities haven’t commented much on the case out of consideration for investigative procedure.
“The law does not allow us to talk in detail,” he said. “It is the duties, roles and obligations of competent work. To make it public, it allows a suspect to know, and they could escape or destroy evidence.”
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Former CNRP lawmaker Oum Sam An told RFA that an arrest of Pich Kimsrin in Cambodia is unlikely because an investigation into his role in the shooting could tie him to top Cambodian officials.
A Cambodian government spokesperson last week rejected any suggestion that Cambodia could be blamed for a killing in another country.
Memorial gatherings
In Phnom Penh, some 50 members of the opposition Nation Power Party held a memorial service at the party’s headquarters on Monday.
“Even if Lim Kimya was not a member of the party, he suffered such injustice, and so we have to pay attention,” said Rong Chhun, a prominent labor activist and an adviser to the party, which was formed in 2023 and includes former members of the CNRP.
The party’s president, Chea Mony, also spoke, saying that Lim Kimya “did a crucial job for the sake of democracy” in the country.
“All democrats should follow in his footsteps so that Cambodia can attain genuine democracy,” he said.
Chea Mony’s brother, labor leader Chea Vichea, was gunned down at a Phnom Penh newsstand in 2004 by an assailant who fled on a motorbike.
Cambodians living in Thailand, the United States, Canada and Australia also held gatherings on Sunday.
More than 100 attended an event at Sydney’s Wat Khemarasaram, also known as Wat Bonnyrigg, while approximately 200 people attended a gathering at a Khmer association in Melbourne.
“We come here today to show that we strongly oppose such an act of cruelty and beast occurring in Cambodia presently, and that we cannot accept it,” said Hong Lim, a former Cambodian-Australian lawmaker in Victoria.
Edited by Mike Firn and Matt Reed. This story has been updated to include details from memorial services. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.