Thai police investigators have released video and evidence in the systematic shooting death of former CNRP lawmaker Lim Kimya in Bangkok, Thailand . A Thai court has issued an arrest warrant for a Cambodian man, known as “ Pech ,” in connection with the conspiracy to tell the gunman to shoot Lim Kimya.
Thai investigators found that the cross-border murder case was planned and carried out systematically, involving suspects of both Thai and Cambodian nationality.
Bangkok Police Commissioner Siam Bunsom held a press conference on January 9th to announce that the Thai Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for another suspect involved in the killing of former CNRP lawmaker Lim Kimya on the night of January 8th. He said that initial investigations by Thai police indicated that the murder involved a hired gunman, as the gunman usually does not know the victim’s identity.
The suspect for whom the Thai court issued an arrest warrant is Mr. Pech Kimsrin, known as the deputy chairman of the Central Market Committee and the son of Phnom Penh Governor Mr. Khuong Sreng, on charges of " conspiracy to intentionally kill . "
The charges were filed after Thai investigators obtained surveillance camera footage showing Pech Kimsrin interacting with the Thai gunman. The surveillance camera footage shows Pech Kimsrin following Lim Kimya from the border crossing in Aranyaprathet district, Sa Keo province, Thailand, to where the gunman was operating. The investigation further revealed that after the incident, the second suspect, Mr. Pech Kimsrin, immediately left Thailand on a Sky Angkor Airlines flight to Phnom Penh at 9 p.m. on January 7.
Regarding this matter, National Police Commissioner General Sar Thet told Radio Free Asia on January 9 that the Cambodian side has not yet set a specific time to send the Thai suspect back to Thailand, while the second suspect, a Cambodian national named Pech Kimsrin, has not yet been arrested by Cambodian authorities.
Mr. Sar Thet: " Which side confirms which side is another matter. We don't know for sure which person is involved. Normally, when an incident occurs in a certain place, evidence is always collected, but we don't know if that evidence is 100 percent accurate or not. So it's not just a rumor, the truth is that .Thai authorities have found that the murder of Lim Kimya was systematically organized by gunman Aekkalak Paenoi, a mercenary with orders from Cambodia. According to the hypothesis of Thai authorities, the gunman received his first salary of nearly $1,000, which was sent from Cambodia, and later withdrew more than $600 to use a gun that he had pawned from a police officer to shoot the victim.
Thai authorities suspect that this cross-border murder case was planned in advance, with someone ordering or conspiring, a financier, a follower, and a person who pointed out the identity of the victim, who is suspected to be Mr. Pech Kimsrin, and another stage, there are people who are waiting to free the gunman from Thai territory, who bring him across the Cambodian border through the illegal corridor, and who take him to Battambang province.
Regarding this matter, legal and democratic governance scholar Von Chanlot said that according to Cambodian legal procedures, the extradition of the second suspect, a Cambodian citizen, in connection with the murder of Lim Kimya to Thailand is possible only if the Thai authorities provide sufficient evidence and have the agreement of the Cambodian government.
Mr. Von Chanlot: " In summary, the case in which the Thai authorities issued the warrant, as well as other relevant individuals who have Cambodian citizenship, although they cannot be extradited to Thailand due to citizenship restrictions, this person cannot escape the legal net of committing the murder of an opposition politician. Therefore, he must be punished according to Cambodian law . "
Regarding the murder of Mr. Lim Kimya, after the death of her husband on January 9, Mr. Lim Kimya’s wife, who is French, and his brother met with Thai authorities to make a report and prepare documents to receive her husband’s body, requiring documents from the Cambodian and French embassies. At the same time, Mr. Lim Kimya’s wife went to see her husband’s body, which was kept at Vajira Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.