Thai police are searching for a gunman who shot dead Cambodia's former opposition leader at a popular tourist spot in Bangkok.
Lim Kimya, 74, a former senior member of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, was killed near Khaosan Road on Tuesday evening, just hours after arriving in Thailand with his wife.
The gunman, who was apparently waiting for the politician, fired three shots at him.
Siam Boonsom, chief of the Bangkok police, said on Wednesday that initial investigations indicated the shooter was a hired gun who had relied on another person to identify Kimya.
Security camera footage of the incident released to Thai media showed the suspected gunman arriving at and leaving the scene on a motorbike. He did not cover his face.
"We have gathered evidence and know who the perpetrator is. Right now, we are working to arrest him," Mr Boonsom told the media.
Kimya was a member of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party that was dissolved by a court order ahead of the 2018 election over an alleged treason plot.
The party said in a statement that it was "deeply shocked and appalled by the brutal and inhumane assassination" of Kimya and urged Thai authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The party had been expected to present a strong challenge to the ruling Cambodian People's Party of former prime minister Hun Sen in the 2018 general election. But as part of a sweeping crackdown on opposition before the election, the high court dissolved the party, and the ruling party subsequently won every seat in the National Assembly.
Kimya, a dual Cambodian and French citizen, continued to live in Cambodia even as many opposition politicians fled in the face of threats from the Sen government.
His shooting took place the same day that Sen, now head of the Cambodian senate, called for the government to enact a law that would label certain dissident actions as terrorism.
Phil Robertson, the director of the Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates, said the shooting had “all the hallmarks of a political assassination and looks to be a significant escalation in the use of transnational repression in Bangkok" to intimidate opponents of Cambodia’s ruling party.
Additional reporting by agencies.
