Thai gunman gets life sentence for Cambodian politician Lim Kimya’s murder

A Thai gunman was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for the murder of a Cambodian opposition politician in Bangkok, a judge said.

French national Lim Kimya, a former opposition lawmaker in Cambodia, was shot dead on January 7 by Ekkalak Paenoi as the ex-MP visited Bangkok with his wife.

Cambodian opposition figures have accused the country’s powerful former leader Hun Sen of ordering the shooting. This week, Lim Kimya’s widow called for a full accounting of who was behind it.

“The actions of the first defendant caused harm to the plaintiff,” the Bangkok Criminal Court judge said on Friday. “Since he confessed, the court reduced the sentence to life imprisonment.”

Ekkalak, a former Thai marine, was arrested in neighbouring Cambodia a day after the shooting, and confessed to committing the murder in a livestream video.