Somchai Neelaphaijit. Still missing, still no one punished: March 12, 2004
We will not forget.
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Entries categorized as ‘disappearance’
Five years…
March 10, 2009 · 1 Comment
Categories: Thailand · courts · crime · disappearance · extrajudicial killing · human rights · police · rule of law
Tagged: Angkhana, Neelaphaijit, Reading between the lines, Somchai
Thailand’s rights reputation in the sewer
February 21, 2009 · 1 Comment
(ชื่อเสียงของไทยด้านสิทธิเปรียบเสมือนอยู่ในท่อน้ำเสียแล้ว)
Not so long ago, Thailand’s representatives at United Nations meetings sat quietly while counterparts from nearby countries like Burma and Cambodia were grilled on their human rights records.
Around the world, Thailand’s legal, political and social developments in the 1990s were greeted with applause, and its people in Geneva could sit comfortably, confident that their country would be held up as an example of somewhere with an improved record, even as their neighbors were being singled out for the opposite reason.
How times have changed. This week, the Asian Legal Resource Center submitted a statement to the Human Rights Council (above) that has painted the bleakest picture yet of denied rights and declining rule of law in Thailand during the past few years. [การเติบโตขึ้นของรัฐแห่งความมั่นคงภายในและการเสื่อมถอยของสิทธิมนุษยชนในประเทศไทย]
According to the Hong Kong-based group, Thailand is now in real danger of turning back into an internal-security state. The center’s indicators include the repeated overthrow of elected governments by antidemocratic forces, large-scale public criminal activity with impunity, Internet censorship and the lese-majesty witch-hunt, threats to human rights defenders, and forced repatriation and murder on the high seas. (more…)
Categories: Thailand · UN · UPI · censorship · constitution · courts · disappearance · extrajudicial killing · human rights · human rights groups · military · police · politics · rule of law
Tagged: ALRC, Asian Legal Resource Centre, Human Rights Council, Internal Security Operations Command, ISOC, Samak, Shinawatra, Somchai, Sundaravej, Tak Bai, Thaksin, Thammasat, Wongsawat
Whatever happened to Mayateh Maranoh?
November 21, 2008 · 1 Comment
Next Thursday a court in Yala will decide on a very important case for victims of arbitrary detention and forced disappearance in Thailand. The court is due to give its view on what happened to Mayateh Maranoh (shown above with his son), who has not been seen since he was taken away by a paramilitary group in mid-2007.
According to his family, a group of rangers from Unit 4111 surrounded their house on June 24 and put Mayateh in a vehicle. They also took his car, mobile phone and licensed gun.
Mayateh’s wife and two children watched as he was driven away. It was the last time they saw him. After some days of searching, his wife, Suma-idoh, learned that the unit of poorly-trained local recruits had that evening held him at a school some five kilometers away.
Her constant efforts to interest state officials in her husband’s disappearance failed. The police did not investigate. The Department of Special Investigation under the Justice Ministry also declined to take up the case.
It fell to Suma-idoh to lodge a complaint herself. (more…)
Categories: Thailand · UPI · army · courts · disappearance · human rights · military · other countries · rule of law
Tagged: Calicut, Department of Special Investigation, DSI, India, Kerala, Marano, Maranoh, Mayateh, Rajan, Rangers, Suma-idoh, Tim Ruantoh, Unit 4111, Yala
The mechanics of murder
July 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment
The killing of Yapa Koseng in a vehicle parked at an army base in southern Thailand has attracted interest among news media and human rights groups, particularly since a doctor speaking at a postmortem inquest hearing at the end of June indicated that his fatal injuries could have been caused only by savage torture.
However, it was the testimony of another person that day which laid bare the mechanics of the homicide, or how, in the words of a United Nations expert on extrajudicial killings, police and soldiers in Thailand “get away with murder.”
That person was Major Wicha Phuthong, then acting commander of the unit holding Yapa, whom other detainees claim was present during the assault: a claim that the officer has of course denied.
According to Major Wicha, police picked up Yapa together with two of his sons and three other persons “probably” around 3 p.m. on March 19. They were to be held under martial law provisions for up to seven days without being brought to a court. Anticipating their transfer to a neighboring province for further inquiries, Wicha had them kept in the police van that carried them to his unit at Suantham Temple, in Narathiwat.
Yapa didn’t make it through seven days. The 56-year-old died sometime during the night of March 20 or 21, a broken rib stuck in his lungs. (Hundreds attended his funeral, above.)
But don’t ask Major Wicha about that. (more…)
Categories: Burma · Myanmar · Thailand · UN · UPI · army · courts · disappearance · extrajudicial killing · human rights · military · other countries · police · rule of law · torture
Tagged: Major Wicha Phutong, Martial Law, Narathiwat, Phuthong, Sri Lanka, Suantham Temple, Wat Suantham, Wicha, Wicha Phuthong, Yapa Koseng
Another troublemaker missing in Thailand
June 13, 2008 · 2 Comments
The authorities in Khon Kaen probably did not like Kamol Laosophaphant. His campaign to expose corrupt council dealings over state railway land, among other things, reportedly had a group of police ready to beat him up just last year.
The 49-year-old delivery contractor told his family that he was worried for his safety. In January he took out a life insurance policy but did not let up his fight against the neighborhood “people with influence.”
Kamol, as it happened, had cause for concern. On Feb. 7 he went to the Baan Phai station to lodge one of a dozen criminal complaints that he was preparing against local officials. He never came back to his house only a few hundred meters away.
Kamol’s wife (pictured above holding his photo) and brothers say that the family had contact with him until around 11pm. His wife missed a call from his phone shortly after. Then the line went dead.
They lodged a complaint with the station the next morning, but it was not taken seriously. The day after that, they made another to the Crime Suppression Division. Yet although his car mysteriously turned up outside a hospital some 20 kilometers to the north a few weeks later, four months on they still don’t know where he went. (more…)
Categories: Thailand · UPI · crime · disappearance · human rights · police · rule of law
Tagged: Bangkok, Somchai Neelaphaijit, Somchai, Neelaphaijit, Crime Suppression Division, CSD, Kamol, Kamon, Laosophaphan, Laosophaphant, Khon Kaen, Baan Phai, Ban Phai, Pornthip, Porntip, Rojanasunant, Rojanasunand
“Only three in ten are alive”
May 7, 2008 · 1 Comment
(Latest update of Burmese language reports on Cyclone Nargis)
One of the areas worst affected by the cyclone was Laputta, in the Irrawaddy Delta. A resident of the township speaking to Yoma 3 News (Thailand) said that,
“The township has 16 village tracts. There are at least five villages per tract, and over 200 villages in total. People coming from the villages said that out of these villagers, for every ten, only around three are alive.”
According to Yoma 3 sources, although the government has put the official death toll in Laputta at over a thousand it is in fact much higher than that and to date no help has arrived.
A villager who came into town said
“There’s work on the Thingangyi-Laputta Road but cars can’t travel it yet. Along every road, the Kyarnikan village roads, whatever road, there are so many dead they’re uncountable. For this reason many more in the villages could die. My mother, father, brothers and sisters are all dead. I can’t do anything. I’m left all alone.” (more…)
Categories: Burma · Myanmar · disappearance · human rights · poverty
Tagged: Ayeyarwaddy, cyclone, Cyclone Nargis, Democratic Voice of Burma, DVB, Irrawaddy, Labutta, Laputta, Nargis, Pazundaung, Rangoon, tsunami, Yangon, Yoma 3
Consistently counter-productive
March 12, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Extracts from a new report: Human Rights under Attack, by the Working Group on Justice for Peace, Thailand
One policy that has been consistently counter-productive is the government’s reliance on poorly trained, ill-disciplined para-military forces and civilian militias. Although they have a long-standing history in Thailand, since 2004 their strength in the South has been increased massively. There is a confusing multiplicity of groups – the paramilitary rangers, an interior ministry force known as the Volunteer Defence Corps, several loosely supervised village volunteer forces and an unknown number of smaller sectarian militias – added to the regular army, police and border patrol police. The largest armed force in the South is a civilian militia consisting of Village Defence Volunteers recruited under the Internal Security Operations Command and the Village Protection Force recruited under Queen Sirikit’s direction tasked with protecting Buddhist communities. (more…)
Categories: Thailand · UN · army · courts · crime · disappearance · extrajudicial killing · human rights · human rights groups · military · police · rule of law · torture
Tagged: Emergency Decree, Somchai Neelaphaijit, Angkhana Neelaphaijit, Narathiwat, Yala, Martial Law, Pattani, National Legislative Assembly, NLA, Somchai, Neelaphaijit, National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Songkhla, Working Group on Justice For Peace, child soldiers, Volunteer Defence Corps, Rangers, Village Defence Volunteers, Internal Security Operations Command, Village Protection Force, Wiroj Buacharoon, Ingkayutthabhoriharn, Bannang Sata, Wiroj, Buacharoon, Krong Pinang, Accra Thiproch, Accra, Thiproch, Viroj, Viroj Buacharoon, Central Institute of Forensic Science, Southern Thailand, Abasa Mae-ae, Theera Monthrasak, Associated Press, AP, Pithak Iedkaew, Pithak, Krasae Sin, Kolomudo, Iedkaew, Ruam Thai, Raman, Theera, Monthrasak, WGEID, CIFS, Queen Sirikit, Sirikit, ISOC, WGJP, Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance, Dusong Tawa
March 12, 2004
March 8, 2008 · 4 Comments
It has been four years since Somchai Neelaphaijit disappeared; four long years of heartbreak for his family, four years of unanswered questions.
Somchai did not disappear by accident, but by force. Yet despite wide publicity and persistent efforts to hold the culprits to account, Thailand’s criminal justice system has utterly failed a person who in life had not failed it.
Somchai was a lawyer with a keen sense of justice, and a good one at that. He took on cases that others wouldn’t touch, cases that didn’t earn him any friends in high places. He successfully defended accused terrorists and separatists. He set up a free legal aid service and received a national award in acknowledgement of his work.
Prior to disappearing, Somchai met with five young men in police custody who said that they had been tortured. According to letters that he prepared on their behalf, they had been kicked, electrocuted and urinated upon. One had been hanged from the hook of a toilet door and hit on the head with a lump of wood.
On March 11, 2004 Somchai publicly accused the police of torture and said that he would take the case to the highest levels. Coming from him, this was no idle warning. Someone took it seriously. (more…)
Categories: Thailand · UPI · courts · crime · disappearance · human rights · police · rule of law · torture
Tagged: Amornvivat, Amornwiwat, Crime Suppression Division, CSD, Department of Special Investigation, DSI, Neelaphaijit, Shinawatra, Sombat, Sombat Amornvivat, Sombat Amornwiwat, Somchai, Somchai Neelaphaijit, Thaksin, Thaksin Shinawatra, Tourist Police
Police to stand between themselves & their targets
February 22, 2008 · 3 Comments
Under a visionary new scheme, victims of police torture and the families of persons killed and abducted by police in Thailand are also to get protection from… yes, other police! They include Angkhana Neelaphaijit (above), wife of abducted human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, who has said that she would rather fend for herself. (more…)
Categories: Thailand · crime · disappearance · human rights · police · torture
Tagged: Angkhana, Angkhana Neelaphaijit, Neelaphaijit, Somchai, Somchai Neelaphaijit, witness protection
A policy of not solving human rights cases
February 15, 2008 · 4 Comments
In recent weeks Thailand’s media has attentively reported on the arrest of some paramilitary police who are alleged to have abducted and framed tens, perhaps hundreds, of people.
The Border Patrol Police officers set up most of their victims on charges under which the accused could not get bail. Some they released after receiving ransom. One of these, a middle-aged woman, in January set off the alarm after she, her son and two others had been freed. Since then, over 60 more have complained to the Rights and Liberties Protection Department. At least 180 inmates have reportedly sought for their files to be reopened.
Victims have described how they were held in groups and tortured. According to one, she and her partner [above] were taken to a bungalow where they saw at least twenty more people tied up, some hooded; a few with smashed teeth and bruised faces. Another has claimed that she was electrocuted while pregnant, despite pleading for her baby. She gave birth in remand, awaiting a trial in which she was acquitted of any crime.
A few years ago, a case like this would have been accompanied by loud calls for it to be moved outside of the police force and into the hands of the Department of Special Investigation. But such calls have been noticeably absent this time around. (more…)
Categories: Thailand · UPI · constitution · crime · disappearance · extrajudicial killing · human rights · police · rule of law · torture
Tagged: Lamphun, 1997 Constitution, Kalasin, Ayutthaya, Somchai Neelaphaijit, Somchai, Neelaphaijit, Department of Special Investigation, DSI, Supoj, Suwajo, Charoen, Wat-aksorn, Border Patrol Police, Songkhla, BPP, Rights & Liberties Protection, DRLP, Justice Ministry, Saraburi, Sombat, Amornvivat, Amornwiwat, Sombat Amornvivat, Sombat Amornwiwat, Charoen Wat-aksorn, Supoj Suwajo
Strange fruit in Kalasin
January 23, 2008 · 2 Comments
Officers of the Kalasin District Police Station in northeastern Thailand are alleged to have abducted and murdered dozens of people in the last few years. The actual number could exceed 100; many more bodies have been found, but were not properly examined and documented before being cremated.
Among the victims, Kietisak Thitboonkrong and Krischadol Pancha disappeared from the police station within days of each other in July 2004, shortly after the official close of the first “war on drugs” declared by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Kietisak was 17, Krischadol, 15. Both had been accused of robbery and brought to the police station. Both were granted bail and the grandmother of each had come to the station to collect the boy but was told that he had been released and to go and wait.
Neither ever came home. Kietisak was found in a neighboring province, tortured to death and strung up in a bad attempt at a simulated suicide. Krischadol was not found. (more…)
Categories: Thailand · UPI · crime · disappearance · extrajudicial killing · human rights · police · rule of law · torture
Tagged: Chiang Noi, Culture Ministry, Department of Special Investigation, DSI, Kalasin, Kietisak, Kietisak Thitboonkrong, Krischadol, Krischadol Pancha, National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Pancha, Shinawatra, Thaksin, Thaksin Shinawatra, Thitboonkrong, war on drugs
Protest a more serious crime in Thailand than killing
December 21, 2007 · 3 Comments
Hundreds of people blockaded the National Assembly in Bangkok on Dec. 12, where the unelected legislature, consisting largely of serving and former military officers and bureaucrats, was set to pass a flurry of highly regressive bills before stepping down next year. The protestors called on them to wait for an elected government so the proposed laws could be debated.
Afterwards, police officers said they would consider prosecuting people who climbed the building’s fences and went inside. They accused some of kicking and punching government officials and said that they could be charged with trespass, coercion, upsetting the peace, confinement and damaging public property, among other things.
This sounds familiar. The same bundle of offences is pulled out every time demonstrators and police collide in Thailand.
Categories: Thailand · UPI · army · courts · crime · dictatorship · disappearance · extrajudicial killing · human rights · military · other countries · police · protest
Tagged: Bangkok, gas pipeline, Malaysia, National Assembly, National Legislative Assembly, Neelaphaijit, NLA, Ratchada, Ratchada Watanasak, Somchai, Somchai Neelaphaijit, Watanasak
