Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2005 - Thailand

Lack of investigation into the murder of Mr. Charoen Wat-aksorn⁷⁷

In the night of 21 June 2004, Mr. Charoen Wat-aksorn, an environmentalist and president of the group Love Bo Nok, was killed, on his return from Bangkok to Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

The group Love Bo Nok, a local environmental protection organisation, became well-known following its mobilisation campaigns against the opening of a coal electricity plant on public land.

On the day of his murder, Mr. Wat-aksorn had met with the House Committee on Corruption Investigation, in order to encourage them to open investigations into the accusations of corruption against local leaders, following the election of opponents to the project within the local administration. Mr. Wat-aksorn had also lodged several complaints with the Minister of the Interior, the National Counter Corruption Commission and with different committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The widow of Mr. Wat-aksorn, in collaboration with human rights activists, had demanded that an investigation with the jurisdiction of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) of the Ministry of Justice be opened into the death of Mr. Wat-aksorn. However, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had refused this request and asked the police in Bangkok to assist the local police of Prachuap Khiri Khan.

On 21 June 2005, following an interview with Mrs. Wat-aksorn, the Minister of Justice and the DSI director agreed to "reopen" the investigation, under the direction of the Ministry of Justice. Since then, five suspects were arrested. However, more than one year after the murder, the persons behind the crime had still not been identified by the end of 2005.

Status of the proceedings relating to the enforced disappearance of Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit⁷⁸

Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit, president of the Muslim Lawyers Group and vice-president of the Committee on the Defence of Human Rights of the Law Society of Thailand, was abducted on 12 March 2004. He was last seen in Bang Kapi district. Shortly before his disappearance, he had received threatening anonymous phone calls and he had been informed that his name had been placed by the security forces on a list of members of terrorist groups.

Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit had worked to cease the application of martial law in the southern provinces and for justice for Muslims suspected of terrorist activities and treason. He had also made known that some Muslims accused of terrorism had been tortured during police investigations. His various activities had created tension between Mr. Somchai and the security forces, which most likely played a role in his enforced disappearance.

On 18 April 2005, the wife of Mr. Somchai, Mrs. Angkana Wongrachen, received death threats from intelligence agents, asking her questions about her statements to the United Nations regarding the disappearance of her husband. On 20 April 2005, the director of the Department of Right and Liberties Protection asked his assistant to pay a visit to Mrs. Angkana the following day, to make sure that protection would be conferred on her and her family, as part of the witness protection programme of the Ministry of Justice. Indeed, Mrs. Angkana was to go to court in the framework of the proceedings against the five policemen suspected of being involved in the disappearance of her husband.

By the end of 2005, the family of Mr. Somchai continued, however, to be victim of intimidation.

On 19 July 2005, the Vice-Prime Minister, Mr. Chidchai Wannasathit, announced that the case would from then on be under the responsibility of DSI due to the possible involvement of high-level officials.

In October 2005, a possible change in the primary judge dealing with the disappearance of Mr. Somchai was evoked, despite the progress in the proceedings. The judge finally kept his position until the end of the proceedings, most likely thanks to national and international pressure. The investigation was superficially carried out and the process of the hearings raised concerns that the persons prosecuted would not be punished in a significant way.

Five policemen were charged in relation to the disappearance of Mr. Somchai with "coercion and theft committed by several persons" (sections 309 and 340 of the Criminal Code): the Commander of Police Ngern Tongsuk, Lieutenant Colonel of Police Sinchai Nimbunkampong, First Class Soldier Chaiweng Paduang, Sergeant Rundorn Sithiket and Lieutenant Colonel Chadchai Leiamsa-ngoun.

On 12 January 2006, the Criminal Court of Bangkok found Mr. Ngern Tongsuk guilty of having forced Mr. Somchai to get into a car and sentenced him to three years in prison in accordance with Article 309 of the Criminal Code. The four other accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Judicial proceedings against Mrs. Supinya Klangnarong⁷⁹

Since August 2003, Mrs. Supinya Klangnarong, secretary general of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), which brings together 45 NGOs, has been prosecuted by the media conglomerate Shin Corporation, a company established by the Prime Minister, after she made public, in an article published by the Thai Post on 16 July 2003, that the profits of Shin Corp had shot up since Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra became Prime Minister. On 6 September 2004, the Criminal Court had fixed the date of 19 July 2005 for the first hearing in the trial for defamation (Article 328 of the Criminal Code). Mrs. Supinya might be sentenced to a fine of 200,000 Baht (4,000 euros) and to two years in prison.

On 24 August 2004, Shin Corp had also filed a libel suit with the Civil Court for 400 million Baht (more than 8 million euros) against Mrs. Supinya and the Thai Post, with the approval of the Criminal Court. On 11 October 2004, the Civil Court decided that the trial would start after the Criminal Court rendered its decision.

Mrs. Supinya's trial began on 19 July 2005, with the hearing of the witnesses of the Shin Corp company. The witnesses of Mrs. Supinya were heard in August 2005. Although the criminal proceedings were to be finished on 26 October 2005 and the verdict handed down at the end of December, the hearing was finally postponed until 21 December 2005, due to the Court heavy schedule. The proceedings should be completed at the beginning of 2006, after Mrs. Supinya's lawyers file their final submissions to the Court. The civil proceedings should start in March 2006.

Assault and intimidation of Mr. Wiwat Thamee⁸⁰

On 18 August 2005, a grenade was thrown at the car of Mr. Wiwat Thamee, coordinator of the Ethnic and Indigenous People's Network of Thailand, in Chiang Mai. Mr. Thamee had recently attended the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva (Switzerland), where he had criticised some practices of the Thai government towards minorities in the north of the country.

Despite the presence of police officers not far from the vehicle, they did not react and advised witnesses not officers to lodge complaints. On 20 August 2005, a complaint was lodged with the district police station. The matter was submitted to the National Human Rights Commission.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

77. See Annual Report 2004.

78. See Annual Report 2004, Open Letters to the Thai authorities, 20 October and 24 November 2005, Report of the Observatory mission of judicial observation in Thailand, Somchai abduction trial, Justice granted or justice denied, January 2006, Press Release, 9 January 2006, and Urgent Appeal THA 001/0106/OBS 005.

79. See Annual Report 2004.

80. See Urgent Appeal THA 001/0805/OBS 076.