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A court in Thailand has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing a prominent Cambodian opposition politician in Bangkok.

In January, shortly after the politician arrived in the Thai capital with his wife, he was shot dead in public by citizen of Thailand the assailant. The perpetrator then fled to the neighboring country, where he was apprehended and sent back.

Ekkalak had originally received the death penalty, but that was commuted to a life sentence because of his admission to the killing, the court said on the recent Friday.

The reason behind Lim Kimya's assassination remains unclear - though it has been broadly believed to be a politically motivated assassination.

Government Background in the Country

Opposition politicians and activists are often jailed and intimidated in Cambodia, where government officials have minimal acceptance for opposition views.

Lim Kimya, who had citizenship in both Cambodia and France, was a ex-lawmaker from the primary opposition group in Cambodia, the CNRP.

This political party had nearly succeeded in defeating the incumbent government of former leader the previous prime minister in the year 2013.

After the former leader charged the CNRP of treason, the political organization was banned in 2017 and its supporters were barred from taking part in political engagements.

The current PM of Cambodia Hun Manet - who succeeded his father Hun Sen in 2023 - has denied that the government was involved in Lim's killing.

Details of the Legal Proceedings

Security camera footage from January showed Ekkalak stopping his motorcycle, taking off his headgear and strolling calmly across the road before shots rang out.

Ekkalak was also found guilty of possessing and firing a gun, and instructed to pay around 55,000 US dollars (40,800 British pounds) to the victim's relatives.

The tribunal threw out a charge against another defendant - a Thai citizen charged with transporting the killer to the Cambodian border after the incident - on the grounds that he was only a driver who did not know about the murder.

Reactions and Broader Implications

The legal representative for the widow of the victim told news agency AFP that she was "probably satisfied" with the court's decision, though she was "still questioning who ordered the offense".

"She wants authorities to fully investigate the matter."

In the past few years dozens of activists fleeing crackdowns in Southeast Asian nations have been returned after seeking sanctuary, or in some cases have been killed or gone missing.

Advocacy organizations believe there is an unwritten agreement among the four adjacent nations to permit each other's law enforcement to pursue opponents over the border.