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A Thai court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering a well-known political dissident from Cambodia in the Thai capital.

In January, shortly after Lim Kimya arrived in the Thai capital with his spouse, he was shot dead in a public area by Thai national Ekkalak Paenoi. The perpetrator then escaped to the neighboring country, where he was arrested and sent back.

Ekkalak had originally received the death penalty, but that was reduced to life imprisonment because of his confession to the killing, the court said on the recent Friday.

The motive for the politician's killing is still unknown - though it has been widely suspected to be a politically motivated targeted killing.

Political Background in Cambodia

Opposition politicians and activists are often jailed and intimidated in Cambodia, where government officials have minimal acceptance for political dissent.

Lim Kimya, who had dual Cambodian and French nationality, was a former parliamentarian from Cambodia's main opposition party, the CNRP.

This political party had come close to overthrowing the incumbent government of ex-leader the previous prime minister in 2013.

After Hun Sen accused the CNRP of betrayal, the party was outlawed in 2017 and its members were prohibited from taking part in political engagements.

Cambodian Prime Minister the new leader - who took over from his father the former PM in 2023 - has rejected claims that the administration was implicated in the assassination.

Particulars of the Legal Proceedings

Security camera footage from January showed the convicted man parking his motorbike, removing his helmet and walking calmly across the street before gunfire was heard.

The offender was also convicted of carrying and using a gun, and instructed to pay around 55,000 US dollars (40,800 British pounds) to Lim Kimya's family.

The tribunal threw out a charge against another defendant - a Thai national accused of driving Ekkalak to the border with Cambodia after the incident - on the grounds that he was only a driver who did not have knowledge of the killing.

Reactions and Broader Implications

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

"She desires the officials to fully investigate the matter."

In the past few years dozens of protesters fleeing repression in Southeast Asian nations have been sent back after seeking sanctuary, or in some cases have been murdered or gone missing.

Human rights groups believe there is an tacit understanding among the four adjacent nations to allow each other's law enforcement to chase dissidents over the border.