BANGKOK: A Thai court on Monday (Jan 13) approved 12 days of detention for a man suspected of shooting dead a Cambodian opposition politician in an attack in Bangkok.
Ekkalak Paenoi, who confessed to the crime on Saturday in a livestream video, was escorted to the court in Bangkok wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet alongside uniformed police officers.
Lim Kimya, a former lawmaker for the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was gunned down on Tuesday by a motorcyclist as he arrived in Bangkok by bus from Cambodia with his French wife.
“The court has extended the detention to allow further investigation, and he has been sent to Bangkok Remand Prison,” said senior police officer Attaporn Wongsiripreeda.
Ekkalak – who Thai media have said was a former marine – was arrested in Cambodia on Wednesday, before being extradited to Thailand on Saturday.
Cambodian opposition figures have accused the country’s powerful former leader Hun Sen of ordering the shooting, although a government spokesman has denied official involvement.
Thai police will complete their investigation into the shooting before sending the case to prosecutors for indictment.
Some Thai media reports said Ekkalak was paid 60,000 baht (US$1,700) for the killing, but police say he has claimed he did not receive payment, and took the job “to pay a debt of gratitude”.
