The Thai Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for a former Thai marine suspected of shooting and killing Lim Kimya, a former Cambodian opposition MP, in Bangkok yesterday.

On 7 January, a man was shot, later dying at the scene, near Wat Bowonniwet Vihara in the Phra Nakhon district. The victim was later identified as Lim Kimya, a former opposition MP with the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), who held dual Cambodian-French citizenship. Lim recently arrived in Bangkok by bus from Siem Reap, Cambodia, along with his wife and relatives.

CCTV footage shows a gunman arriving at the scene on a motorcycle. Parking the motorcycle, he crossed the road to shoot Lim Kimya three times before fleeing.

On 8 January, police identified the suspect as 41-year-old Ekalak Paenoi, a former marine in the Royal Thai Navy. An arrest warrant has been issued charging him with premeditated murder and carrying a firearm in public without valid reason.

The shooting occurred on the same day that Cambodian Senate President and former Prime Minister Hun Sen called for his government to pass a law classifying certain dissident actions as terrorism.

Human rights groups have called on authorities in Thailand to conduct a swift and thorough investigation.

" This brazen shooting of a former CNRP MP on the streets of Bangkok has all the hallmarks of a political assassination, and looks to be a significant escalation in the use of transnational repression in Bangkok. The direct impact will be to severely intimidate the hundreds of Cambodian political opposition figures, NGO activists, and human rights defenders who have already fled to Thailand to escape PM Hun Manet's campaign of political repression in Cambodia,” said Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights Labour Advocates.

Lim Kimya, 74, was elected as an opposition member of Cambodia’s parliament after a general poll in 2013 in which the ruling party under former leader Hun Sen almost lost to its then-rival, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

In 2017, his party was dissolved by the Supreme Court on the grounds that it was plotting to overthrow the government. The party’s President Kem Sokha was arrested and most of its senior leaders fled into exile abroad. Dozens of opposition politicians and MPs, including Lim Kimya, were banned from political activities. It was also reported that the Cambodian government has intimidated, surveilled and harassed former CNRP members – including those living in exile in neighbouring Thailand.

“The CNRP strongly condemns this heinous act as a grave violation of human rights and a direct threat to political freedom. We urge Thai authorities to conduct a swift, thorough, and impartial investigation into this murder and bring the perpetrator to justice,” said the CNRP’s statement.

Lim Kimya’s assassination highlights the tightening grip of Southeast Asian governments as they collude to go after their political dissidents.  The incident also shows that Thailand is not a safe haven for political dissidents.