Updated Jan. 15, 2025, 4:35 p.m. ET
Thai police on Wednesday said they were searching for a third suspect who they believe masterminded last week’s fatal shooting of a prominent critic of the Cambodian government.
The third suspect, Ly Ratanakrasmey, is an adviser to former Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to Major Gen. Atthaphon Wongsiriprida of Bangkok’s Metropolitan Police Division.
Lim Kimya, 74, a former member of parliament for the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, was gunned down just after arriving in Bangkok on Jan. 7.
The killing raised new alarms about Thailand’s autocratic neighbors pursuing critics on Thai soil.
The suspected gunman, Aekaluck Paenoi, a former Thai Marine, was arrested the day after in Cambodia’s Battambang province and was extradited to Thailand on Jan. 11.
Thai police earlier identified and issued an arrest warrant for another Cambodian who they identified as Pich Kimsrin and said was suspected of acting as a spotter for the gunman.
Aekaluck has provided valuable testimony to investigators and has said that Ly Ratanakrasmey “harbored a grudge against the victim and asked him to ‘handle it,’” Atthaphon told reporters on Wednesday.
Investigators have also found evidence of money transfers to the shooter and have determined that Ly Ratanakrasmey entered Thailand on Jan. 6, then returned to Cambodia on Jan. 8 – the day after the assassination, Atthaphon said.
Ly Ratanakrasmey traveled on a Cambodian passport but has also used the Thai alias Somwang Bamrungkit in Thailand, Atthaphon said.
“Over the past two years, he has crossed the Thai border more than 100 times,” he said, adding that Ly Ratanakrasmey has spent much of his time in Chonburi province south of Bangkok.
There is no one on the Thai national register of citizens with the name Somwang Bamrungkit, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
Red notices
Ly Ratanakrasmey is the former head of the CNRP’s Thailand Workers’ Working Group, which attempted to attract support from the thousands of Cambodian workers living in Thailand.
He joined the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, in 2022. He was one of many opposition activists to switch their allegiance to the CPP – some after receiving legal threats or other forms of pressure – ahead of the 2023 general election.
In January 2024, Phnom Penh Gov. Khuong Sreng hosted a ceremony to formally welcome Ly Ratanakrasmey and several others to the CPP. The new party members were also appointed as advisers to Hun Sen, who has served as Senate president since stepping down as prime minister in 2023.
Atthaphon said authorities have received approval from the Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Ly Ratanakrasmey.
Thai authorities have also sent out an Interpol red notice, which is a request to law enforcement worldwide that a person accused of a serious crime be located and detained.
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Authorities believe that Pich Kimsrin – the suspected spotter – can be seen in CCTV footage shadowing Lim Kimya on a cross-border bus and in Bangkok.
Kimsrin is also now subject to an Interpol red notice, Police Major Gen. Theeradej Thammasutee told reporters.
“We are working with Cambodian police to have him arrested and extradited to Thailand to face charges,” he said.
A Cambodian government spokesperson rejected any suggestion that Cambodia could be blamed for a killing in another country.
Additionally, police on Tuesday arrested a Thai man suspected of helping the gunman escape across the Cambodian border just after the shooting. The man told investigators he had given Aekaluck a ride but wasn’t aware of the shooting.
Tireless critic
Lim Kimya was a dual French-Cambodian citizen who won a seat in Cambodia’s National Assembly in a 2013 election.
He was a tireless government critic who refused to leave Cambodia or be cowed into silence on issues such as corruption and human rights even after many of his opposition colleagues fled the country after the CNRP was banned in 2017.
Lim Kimya was the first Cambodian politician to be shot dead in Thailand, but Cambodian critics in self-exile there have been facing increasing danger of attacks and deportation, according to rights groups.
Several opposition activists say they have been attacked in Thailand because of criticism of their government.
In February 2024, Prime Minister Hun Manet met the then-Thai prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, in Bangkok to discuss a crackdown on what they called “interference” in Cambodian politics by Thai-based Cambodian activists.
In November, six Cambodian members of the CNRP were charged with treason shortly after Thai authorities sent them home.
Cambodian citizens in France have scheduled a funeral service for Lim Kimya on Thursday at Wat Porvong, also known as Wat Saint-Simon, on the outskirts of Paris.
Lim Kimya’s wife – a French citizen who was her husband when he was killed – is expected to attend, according to funeral organizer Kim Heng.
Edited by Mike Firn and Matt Reed. RFA Khmer contributed to this report. Updates throughout with details from Atthaphon’s news conference and background on Ly Ratanakrasmey.