FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2006
AHRC-OL-061-2006
An Open Letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights by the Asian Human Rights Commission
Louise Arbour
High Commissioner
UN High Commission on Human Rights
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917-9006
Dear Ms. Arbour
THAILAND: UN role needed to ensure that killers of human rights lawyer successfully prosecuted & tried
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to draw your attention to important developments in the case of Somchai Neelaphaijit, the human rights lawyer forcibly disappeared by members of the Royal Thai Police on 12 March 2004. His case has been taken up and closely followed by the UN Working Group on enforced and involuntary disappearances, as well as other special procedures under your auspices.
According to the latest reports, the Office of the Attorney General has today, November 3, confirmed that Somchai is dead and instructed the Department of Special Investigation under the Ministry of Justice to issue arrest warrants. Meanwhile, the director general of the department, who has been widely accused of obstructing the case, has reportedly been transferred out of his post.
There are very serious implications arising out of these developments that we feel will be of great concern to your office.
The 2005 case against five police accused in connection with the lawyer’s disappearance was botched from the start by poor investigation, squandered evidence and inept public prosecution. The AHRC observed the trial throughout and has compiled its observations in a 141-page document, “The disappearance of a person & the defects of a system”, (online at http://thailand.ahrchk.net/docs/AHRC_Somchai_trial_notes.pdf)a copy of which we will send you. This document reveals a litany of grave errors in the management of that case, including mishandling of material evidence, deficient interrogating of suspects, lack of protection for witnesses, procedural errors, and constant changing of prosecution staff, all of which defeated the prospects of fair trial and led to the acquittal of four out of the five accused.
To rectify these problems before any more persons accused in connection with the disappearance of Somchai Neelaphaijit are brought before the courts in Thailand, the government must ensure that it complies with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by:
1. Closely monitoring the work of the Department of Special Investigation and public prosecutor throughout, and wherever possible reporting fully on progress to the family of the victim and the public.
2. Ensuring that a senior public prosecutor is assigned solely to the case from start to finish, with guarantees of the necessary personnel and other resources needed to do the job properly.
3. Providing all necessary protection to witnesses in accordance with the provisions of the Witness Protection Act BE 2544 (2001).
4. Relying on experts to obtain and analyse evidence. The resources of the Central Institute of Forensic Science must be used to the full extent. Telecommunications experts must be employed for the purpose of presenting and explaining mobile phone evidence to the court. Where necessary, persons with relevant experience should be brought from abroad for this purpose.
5. Reopening other investigations. The abduction and killing of Somchai was believed closely connected to the alleged torture of five of his clients. These persons were brought to testify in the case against the accused police, but their own allegations have never been properly examined, despite calls from many quarters for this to be done. The Department of Special Investigation should therefore also be instructed to reopen inquiries into these allegations, upon which any verdict in this case also hangs.
The Asian Human Rights Commission also takes this opportunity to urge your office to push for all human rights cases handled by the Department of Special Investigation to be reviewed, among them, the 2005 murders of environmentalists Charoen Wat-aksorn and Phra Supoj Suwajo, in which police and local “influential persons” have been implicated, and other cases where state officers are among the accused parties.
The case of Somchai Neelaphaijit is of immense importance to Thailand because it is at the nexus between gross human rights abuse and persistent impunity enjoyed by state officers there. These abuses and impunity extend across all parts of policing and military behaviour in all areas of the country. It is for this reason that the case should be of the utmost importance to your office, and that a continued UN role is needed to ensure that his killers are at long last successfully prosecuted and tried.
While the military-appointed interim government of Thailand has shown a willingness to pursue cases directly connected to the former administration and the police force, it remains to be seen as to whether or not it has the capacity to do the same in all such cases. For this reason, it must demonstrate a similar commitment to take legal action against army officers responsible for torture, forced disappearance and extrajudicial killing. These should include the army generals responsible for the mass deaths in the southern provinces of April and October 2004.
Yours sincerely,
Basil Fernando
Executive Director
Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong
Copies to:
UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions
UN Special Representative on human rights defenders
UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture
UN Working Group on enforced and involuntary disappearances
