Amnesty International and ASEAN parliamentarians have condemned the assassination of former Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) MP Lim Kimya in Bangkok on Tuesday.
The unlawful killing of Kimya, a vocal critic of the Cambodian government, is deeply alarming, said Amnesty International’s interim regional deputy director for research, Kate Schuetze, in a statement.
“Although the circumstances are not yet clear, his death comes as Cambodian authorities continue to violate human rights by silencing opposition voices in Cambodia and abroad, including in Thailand,” she added.
Schuetze also called on the Thai government to launch an immediate, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation into the killing. Since Lim Kimya held dual Cambodian and French citizenship, it is reported that French police are also involved in the investigation.
The alleged assassin, Ekaluck Paenoi, a former Thai marine, has already been arrested in Cambodia’s Battambang province. An arrest warrant has also been issued for a second suspect, believed to be a spotter involved in the murder.
Meanwhile, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) condemned the murder “in the strongest possible terms,” calling it a cold-blooded act that demands a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation to ensure that the perpetrator(s) is/are held accountable.
Lim Kimya, 74, was a fearless critic of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and its authoritarian rule.
“Despite enduring severe threats from the CPP - including former Prime Minister Hun Sen’s explicit warning to make the lives of opposition MPs ‘hell’ - Lim Kimya remained resolute," according to APHR.
Even after the CNRP’s dissolution in 2017, he refused to flee Cambodia, standing firm against intimidation. His courageous defense of democracy inspired countless activists and democratic advocates, both within Cambodia and internationally, say APHR, and this ruthless act of violence is emblematic of the ongoing dismantling of Cambodia’s political opposition and “it further threatens the lives of Cambodian political refugees and activists seeking sanctuary in Thailand.”
Sam Rainsy, the former CNRP president, has called on Thai police to conduct a deep investigation into the murder, to uncover, what he described as, an active network working to suppress Cambodia’s opposition in Thailand.
He claimed that the network is led by Cambodia’s former Prime Minister Hun Sen.
“Several dozen members of the opposition have been coldly assassinated. I myself have been the target of several assassination attempts,” Sam Rainsy wrote on his Facebook page, adding “let us hope that the Thai authorities will be more cooperative than the Cambodian authorities in helping the French police unmask Hun Sen's operatives who are active in Thailand,” he added.
