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A Thai court has handed down a sentence to a man to life imprisonment for murdering a well-known political dissident from Cambodia in Bangkok.

In January, shortly after the politician arrived in the capital city of Thailand with his wife, he was fatally shot in public by citizen of Thailand the assailant. Ekkalak then fled to Cambodia, where he was arrested and sent back.

Ekkalak had originally received the death penalty, but that was reduced to life imprisonment due to his admission to the murder, the judicial body said on Friday.

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

Government Context in the Country

Opposition politicians and activists are often jailed and harassed in the nation, where authorities have minimal acceptance for political dissent.

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

The CNRP had nearly succeeded in overthrowing the incumbent government of ex-leader Hun Sen in the year 2013.

After Hun Sen charged the CNRP of treason, the political organization was outlawed in 2017 and its members were prohibited from taking part in political activities.

The current PM of Cambodia Hun Manet - who took over from his father Hun Sen in 2023 - has denied that the administration was implicated in Lim's killing.

Particulars of the Case

Surveillance video from the incident month showed the convicted man parking his motorbike, removing his helmet and walking calmly across the street before gunfire was heard.

Ekkalak was also convicted of possessing and firing a gun, and instructed to pay around 55,000 US dollars (£40,800) to the victim's relatives.

The court dismissed a accusation against a second suspect - a Thai national accused of driving the killer to the Cambodian border after the shooting - on the grounds that he was merely a chauffeur who did not have knowledge of the murder.

Reactions and Wider Consequences

The lawyer for the widow of the victim told news agency the press that she was "likely content" 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 many protesters escaping repression in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand have been returned after seeking sanctuary, or in some cases have been murdered or disappeared.

Advocacy organizations think there is an unwritten agreement among the four adjacent nations to permit each other's security forces to pursue opponents over the frontier.