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A Thai court has sentenced a man to life in prison for killing a prominent political dissident from Cambodia in Bangkok.

In January, hours after Lim Kimya arrived in the capital city of Thailand with his spouse, he was shot dead in public by Thai national Ekkalak Paenoi. Ekkalak then escaped to the neighboring country, where he was arrested and deported.

The defendant had originally received the capital punishment, but that was commuted to life imprisonment because of his confession to the murder, the court said on the recent Friday.

The motive for Lim Kimya's killing remains unclear - though it has been widely suspected to be a politically motivated targeted killing.

Political Context in the Country

Opposition politicians and activists are often jailed and intimidated in the nation, where government officials have minimal acceptance for opposition views.

The deceased, who had citizenship in both Cambodia and France, was a former parliamentarian from the primary opposition group in Cambodia, the CNRP.

The CNRP had come close to defeating the long-ruling party of ex-leader Hun Sen in the year 2013.

After the former leader accused the CNRP of treason, the political organization was banned in 2017 and its members were barred from taking part in political engagements.

The current PM of Cambodia the new leader - who succeeded his parent the former PM in 2023 - has denied that the government was implicated in Lim's killing.

Details of the Legal Proceedings

Security camera footage from January showed Ekkalak parking his motorbike, removing his helmet and strolling calmly across the street before shots rang out.

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

The court dismissed a accusation against another defendant - a Thai citizen charged with driving the killer to the border with Cambodia after the shooting - on the basis that he was only a driver who did not know about the killing.

Responses and Wider Consequences

The lawyer for the widow of the victim told news agency the press that she was "probably satisfied" with Friday's verdict, though she was "continuing to ask who commissioned the crime".

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

In recent years many activists escaping repression in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand have been sent back after requesting asylum, or in some cases have been murdered or gone missing.

Human rights groups believe there is an unwritten agreement among the four neighbouring countries to allow each other's security forces to chase opponents over the frontier.