A top Cambodian government official on Wednesday denied involvement in the fatal shooting of a former opposition lawmaker in Bangkok earlier this month.
Khliang Huot, a deputy Phnom Penh governor, told Radio Free Asia that recent statements by exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy connecting him to two suspects in the Jan. 7 attack on Lim Kimya were false.
He also denied knowing the suspects — Ly Ratanakrasmey and Pech Kimsrin — both of whom are wanted by Thai police in connection with the shooting near a busy street in Bangkok’s old quarter.
“I don’t have anything to respond to the three-generations traitor [Sam Rainsy]. He blasted my respected person — Hun Sen’s family,” he said, referring to Senate President Hun Sen and his eldest son, Prime Minister Hun Manet.
Lim Kimya, 74, a former member of parliament for the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, was gunned down just after arriving in Bangkok. He had been a frequent critic of the Cambodian government in recent years.
Thai police have charged suspected gunman Aekaluck Paenoi, a former Thai Marine who was arrested on Jan. 8 in Cambodia’s Battambang province and was extradited to Thailand on Jan. 11.
Thai authorities later said they were searching for Ly Ratanakrasmey, a former adviser to Hun Sen who they believe masterminded the assassination.
They have also identified and issued an arrest warrant for Pich Kimsrin, who they said followed Lim Kimya on a bus from Cambodia to the Thai capital and acted as a so-called “spotter” for Aekaluck in the murder.
Close ties to Hun Sen
Khliang Huot is also a member of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party’s Central Committee and an adviser and personal assistant to Hun Sen — in addition to his role as deputy governor of Phnom Penh.
He also has close ties with Pich Kimsrin, Sam Rainsy wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
Sam Rainsy pointed to audio posted on a Khmer language Facebook page in September in which Hun Sen purportedly spoke to Khliang Huot about cracking down on opposition activists who had fled to Thailand.
In one audio clip, Hun Sen can be heard ordering Khliang Huot to work with his associates to return opposition activist Phorn Phanna to Cambodia, “dead or alive.”
“The working group in Thailand must work with Thai police to eliminate the group of people who are living in Thailand — one is Phorn Phanna,” he said in an audio clip posted to Facebook.
“He must be brought to Cambodia. We can’t let him be free. He is staging something to incite a movement,” Hun Sen said. “Our forces must bring him here at any cost — dead or alive.”
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Khliang Huot told RFA on Wednesday that he would be willing to travel to Thailand to speak with investigators if authorities there say they believe he was involved in the Lim Kimya shooting.
“If they summon me I will go immediately,” he said. “I don’t have any security concerns. I am innocent. I have nothing to worry about.”
Hun Manet’s comments
Last week, Hun Manet angrily denied the involvement of the government and Hun Sen and pointed to the quick arrest of the suspected gunman in Cambodia.
“If the government were behind the murder, we wouldn’t have apprehended the suspect and sent him to Thailand,” he said at an inauguration ceremony in Pursat province on Jan. 20.
Hun Manet’s remarks were in response to another Facebook post from Sam Rainsy, who pointed out on Jan. 19 that there have been no public condemnations of the Lim Kimya shooting from Hun Sen, Hun Manet or any other high-ranking member of Hun Sen’s family.
Sam Rainsy said the lack of a statement was suspicious and facetiously suggested that they send a letter of condolence to the victim’s family.
In Pursat, Hun Manet said the accusation that his father was behind the killing was unjust.
The opposition has “acted as police and prosecutor and Supreme Court. They have already convicted” Hun Sen, the prime minister said.
Meanwhile, family members told RFA that Lim Kimya’s body arrived in Paris on Monday and will be buried on Feb. 3. Lim Kimya held dual Cambodian-French citizenship.
Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.