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A court in Thailand has handed down a sentence to a man to life in prison for killing a prominent Cambodian opposition politician in the Thai capital.

In the month of January, hours after Lim Kimya arrived in the Thai capital with his spouse, he was fatally shot in a public area by citizen of Thailand the assailant. The perpetrator then fled to Cambodia, where he was arrested and sent back.

Ekkalak had initially been handed the death penalty, but that was commuted to a life sentence because of his admission to the murder, the judicial body said on Friday.

The reason behind the politician's killing remains unclear - though it has been broadly believed to be a politically driven targeted killing.

Government Background in the Country

Dissident figures and campaigners are often imprisoned and harassed in the nation, where authorities have little tolerance for opposition views.

The deceased, 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 incumbent government of ex-leader Hun Sen in 2013.

After the former leader charged the opposition party of betrayal, the party was outlawed in 2017 and its members were barred from taking part in political engagements.

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

Details of the Case

Surveillance video from the incident month showed Ekkalak stopping his motorcycle, taking off his headgear and strolling calmly across the street before shots rang out.

Ekkalak was also found guilty of carrying and using 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 Ekkalak to the Cambodian border after the shooting - on the basis that he was merely a chauffeur who did not have knowledge of the murder.

Reactions and Wider Consequences

The legal representative for Lim Kimya's widow told news agency AFP that she was "probably satisfied" with the court's decision, though she was "continuing to ask who commissioned the offense".

"She desires the officials to get to the bottom of it."

In the past few years many protesters fleeing repression in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand have been returned after requesting asylum, or in some cases have been murdered or gone missing.

Advocacy organizations think there is an tacit understanding among the four neighbouring countries to allow each other's law enforcement to chase dissidents over the frontier.