On October 3, 2025, a Thai criminal court handed down a life sentence to Ekkalak Paenoi, a 41-year-old former Thai marine, for the murder of Lim Kimya, a prominent Cambodian opposition figure and French national. The killing, which took place in the old quarter of Bangkok on January 7, 2025, has sent ripples through Southeast Asian political circles and left lingering questions about the forces behind the attack.
The incident unfolded swiftly and with chilling precision. Lim Kimya, aged 74, arrived in Bangkok from Cambodia accompanied by his wife, Anne-Marie Lim, and his brother. Within hours, he was gunned down in public, a brazen act that shocked both the Cambodian and Thai communities. According to Africanews, Ekkalak was apprehended in neighboring Cambodia just one day later, on January 8, and was subsequently extradited back to Thailand to face justice.
The Thai court initially imposed the death penalty for premeditated murder, as well as finding Ekkalak guilty of carrying a weapon and discharging a firearm in public. However, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment following Ekkalak’s confession, a legal practice not uncommon in Thailand’s judicial system. Nadthasiri Bergman, the lawyer representing Lim Kimya’s widow, explained to reporters, “The defendant confessed, so the death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.” Ekkalak was also ordered to pay compensation of 1.79 million baht (about $55,162) to the victim’s family, a gesture that, while significant, does little to fill the void left by Lim Kimya’s death.
The trial began on October 1, 2025, with witness testimonies, including that of Anne-Marie Lim, who has remained steadfast in her pursuit of the truth. Outside the courthouse, Bergman conveyed her client's mixed feelings: “Anne-Marie is probably satisfied with today’s verdict, but she is still questioning who ordered the crime. She wants authorities to get to the bottom of it,” Reuters reported. Anne-Marie Lim herself told AFP that she wanted to know the “reason for this crime and who ordered it.”
Despite the conviction of Ekkalak, the case is far from closed. Two Cambodian nationals, Ly Ratanaksmey and Pich Kimsrin, remain at large, with warrants for their arrest issued by the Thai court in January 2025. Thai police have identified Ly Ratanaksmey as the individual accused of recruiting the gunman, while Pich Kimsrin allegedly acted as a lookout and was reportedly on the bus with the victim and his wife. Both suspects fled Thailand shortly after the murder, and their current whereabouts are unknown.
The political undercurrents surrounding Lim Kimya’s assassination are hard to ignore. Lim was a member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), a formidable opposition movement that was dissolved by the Cambodian Supreme Court in 2017 ahead of the 2018 elections. The party’s disbandment was widely condemned by Western governments and human rights organizations, who accused then-Prime Minister Hun Sen’s administration of using the legal system to silence dissent. Lim, who served as an MP from 2013 to 2017, withdrew from Cambodian politics and returned to France following the party’s ban, according to his wife’s legal team.
The murder has prompted speculation about higher-level involvement. Cambodian opposition figures have openly accused powerful former leader Hun Sen of orchestrating the killing. Days after the attack, media reports surfaced linking Ly Ratanaksmey to Hun Sen as a former adviser. In response, Cambodia’s ruling party issued a statement asserting that Ratanaksmey had been dismissed from his advisory role in March 2024. Meanwhile, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Hun Sen’s son, has publicly denied any official involvement in the assassination.
Thai authorities, for their part, have not disclosed a motive or identified a mastermind behind the killing. The judge who presided over Ekkalak’s trial refrained from offering details about who may have ordered the attack or why. The lack of clarity has only fueled the determination of Lim Kimya’s widow and supporters to seek a full and transparent investigation. “We want to see an investigation into people involved (in the killing),” Am Sam Ath, operations director of the Cambodian rights group Licadho, told AFP. “Since Lim Kimya is also a Cambodian, we want to see that Thai authorities and the Thai court conduct further investigations in order to render full justice for him.”
The trial also saw the acquittal of a second Thai defendant, Chakrit Buakhil, who was accused of driving Ekkalak to the Cambodian border after the shooting. The court found insufficient evidence to prove Chakrit’s involvement, and his lawyer, Natchapong Moosakopas, maintained that his client “was only a driver and did not know what was happening,” as ABC reported.
Further complicating the narrative are conflicting reports about Ekkalak’s motives and compensation. Some Thai media outlets claimed he was paid 60,000 baht (about $2,800) for the killing, but police stated that Ekkalak insisted he did not receive payment and took the job “to pay a debt of gratitude.” During his initial interrogation, Ekkalak admitted to the murder in a live-streamed video, a detail that underscored the unusual openness of the case but did little to explain the deeper motivations or connections behind the crime.
Lim Kimya’s murder has cast a long shadow over the already fraught landscape of Cambodian opposition politics. The CNRP’s dissolution and the subsequent crackdown on dissent have left many former members in exile or in fear for their safety. The international community, particularly Western nations, has consistently criticized Cambodia’s human rights record and the use of the courts to stifle opposition voices. The killing in Bangkok—far from Cambodia’s borders—serves as a stark reminder of the risks faced by political dissidents, even abroad.
For the Lim family and their supporters, the verdict against Ekkalak Paenoi is just one step on a longer road to justice. Anne-Marie Lim and her legal team have called on both Thai and Cambodian authorities to pursue the remaining suspects and uncover the full truth behind the assassination. As the case continues to unfold, the search for answers—and for accountability—remains very much alive.
With the main perpetrator behind bars but key questions still unanswered, the Lim Kimya case stands as a somber testament to the dangers faced by political dissidents and the enduring struggle for justice in Southeast Asia.
