A Thai court issued an arrest warrant for an adviser to Cambodian hero Hun Sen on Wednesday, charging him with recruiting others to “deliberately kill” in the brutal killing of a former opposition politician in Bangkok last week.
The warrant is the strongest indication so far that Lim Kimya, who was shot on a busy street, was the victim of a political assassination. He was a member of the legislature with the Cambodia National Rescue Party, an opposition party that was disbanded under the pressure of Mr. Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia as prime minister for nearly four decades. Mr. Hun Sen gave that job to his son Hun Manet in 2023 but he is still the leader of his political party and the country’s senator.
The person named in the arrest warrant is Somwang Bamrungkit, 42, a Thai-Cambodian dual citizen known in Cambodia as Ly Rotanakraksmey. Thai prosecutors charged him with three counts, including possession of firearms and shooting. His current location is unclear. .
Sok Eysan, spokesman for the Cambodian People’s Party of the Hun dynasty, said that although Mr. Ly Rotanakraksmey was Mr. Hun Sen, “what he does illegally, is the responsibility of that person.” Mr. Hun Sen has appointed a number of advisers, and the nature of his relationship with Mr Ly Rotanakraksmey was not immediately clear.
Last Tuesday, a gunman shot Mr. Lim Kimya, 73, who was a citizen of France and Cambodia twice, after he got off the bus from Cambodia to neighboring Thailand. The gunman fled on a motorcycle and boarded a truck before crossing into Cambodia. But in the days that followed, he was arrested and extradited to Thailand, where authorities identified him as Ekaluck Paenoi. He admitted that he was the killer but told Thai investigators that he could not reveal the mastermind because he feared for the safety of his family.
The Cambodian opposition, including Sam Rainsy, who once led the CNRP, said that Mr. Hun Sen.
The killings were seen as a major escalation of an international campaign of repression by Cambodia, which in recent months has confirmed the deportation of dissidents to Thailand and Malaysia. It was condemned by France, which said it would closely monitor the investigation by the Thai authorities.
“It sends an alarming message that no one is safe,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “If they can target someone like that and do it in an insulting way, on the streets of Bangkok city in broad daylight, in front of CCTV footage, imagine what they can do to someone who doesn’t have a high profile, who isn’t an opposition politician and who doesn’t have a second nationality.”
Ms. Pearson said that after the killing of Cambodians in Thailand, they contacted her organization, fearing for their safety. He said there is an urgent need for foreign governments to immediately resettle Cambodian refugees and exiles.
Before it was crushed, the Cambodia National Rescue Party posed a serious threat to Mr. Hun Sen. Mr. Ly Rotanakraksmey, a fugitive, was a CNRP official in Thailand. But in 2022, he joined the CPP and became an adviser to Mr. Hun Sen last January.
Separately, Thai media reported that Interpol wanted the arrest of Pich Kimsrin, a 24-year-old Cambodian man whom Thai authorities identified as a known murderer. Mr Pich Kimsrin appears to be the younger brother of Pich Sros, a pro-government politician best known for filing the complaint that led to the dissolution of the CNRP in 2017, according to a family photo and his birth certificate. Mr. Pich Kimsrin is still in full swing.
Mr. Pich Sros is a member of the government’s Supreme Consultative Council, which gives him the rank of prime minister and government adviser, and is the founder of his own small political party, the Cambodian Youth Party, which is affiliated with the CPP. comment.
In May 2023, Mr. Pich Kimsrin was appointed deputy head of the Phsar Kandal market in Phnom Penh, reporting to Kieng Chak, another adviser to Mr Hun Sen.
Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting from Bangkok.
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