Former Cambodia opposition lawmaker killed in Thailand: Amnesty International News
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Former Cambodia opposition lawmaker killed in Thailand: Amnesty International

Amnesty International on Wednesday denounced the killing of a former Cambodian-French opposition politician in Bangkok, Thailand.

Lim Kimya, a former member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was shot by a gunman on Tuesday, as he arrived in Bangkok. Kimya, a vocal critic of the Cambodian government, was travelling from the Cambodian city of Siem Reap with his wife and uncle when the gunman fired three shots, killing him. Local media Bangkok Post reported the policy autopsy report, indicating that “two bullets fired into the right side of his back,” resulting in ruptures to his heart and liver.

The suspect, a former Thai Navy marine, was arrested at a restaurant in the northwestern province of Battambang on Wednesday afternoon. According to police, the suspect, who had a criminal history and an outstanding warrant for offences, fled the area on a motorcycle.

Amnesty International’s interim regional deputy director for research, Kate Schuetze, urged Thailand to immediately investigate the murder of Lim Kimya and hold perpetrators accountable without resorting to capital punishment. Schuetze further urged the Thai government to fulfil its international obligations and protect the basic rights of critics of the Cambodian government within its territory.

The CNRP was an electoral alliance between two democratic opposition parties, the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party. The alliance was forcibly dissolved in November 2017 following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Cambodia, with 118 senior party officials receiving a five-year ban from politics. Many opposition MPs have faced human rights abuses within Cambodia and overseas.

Political opponents of the ruling party and Cambodian activists have been harassed, intimidated, beaten and jailed in mass trials. They have also been the subject of potential targeted attacks and faced violent repression within and outside the country. Amnesty International also noted that regional opposition figures, activists and human rights defenders have faced “abductions, enforced disappearances, killings, and forced return to places where they face persecution” across Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

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