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THAILAND: A man in northern Thailand died allegedly due to torture while in military custody

December 21, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

21 December 2006
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UA-410-2006: THAILAND: A man in northern Thailand died allegedly due to torture while in military custody

THAILAND: torture; extrajudicial killing; police abuse; concealment of the truth; military impunity
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you of the death of Charnchai Promthongchai (23) who had been under military custody for four days after being arrested by the military at a checkpoint at Baan Jabo on December 7. The victim’s friend, Som Hom-orn (27), who was also detained by the military has been badly injured and is thought to be suffering brain damage and is in hospital in Chiang Mai. The victim, Promthongchai, had allegedly been tortured severely by both the military and the police while he was in custody. The military explained to the victim’s family that the victim had died because of injuries received when they were trying to escape from a military car. However the family is in great doubt about the military’s explanation on his death since the injuries were incompatible with by such an accident.

CASE DETAILS:

On the evening of December 7, two men Charnchai Promthongchai and Som Hom-orn were arrested by military soldiers from the Ad Hoc Team Ror 753, Ban Jabo military base, Pangmapha Sub-district, Pangmapha District, near the checkpoint of Baan Jabo. The two victims were on their way back from Myanmar. The soldiers took the victims to the Pangmapha District Police station. The family of the victims, Mrs. Orn-anong Katsi and Mrs. Nuan Prothongchai, the mother of Mr. Charnchai, was informed of the custody of the two men around 11:00pm that day and they visited the police station shortly after they received the information.

On the following day, the family of Mr. Charnchai was told by him that he was charged with illegal entry into the country at the checkpoint. Usually, the charge would be withdrawn and the detainee would be released on bail by paying a small amount in a fine. The family paid the fine of 1,000 Thai Baht at the police station however the police told them that the bail would not be accepted because the military had requested a detention of 7 days under the martial law. The family was told by the military soldiers that they were suspicious that the victims’ ID cards were fraud.

According to the information we received, the military soldiers brought the victims to an unknown place from the Pangmapha District Police Station at around 9:00pm on December 9. On December 10, the mother and a sister of Mr. Charnchai visited the police station and learned that the victims were transferred to another place. The family asked the police officers about the whereabouts of the victims but they could not get any information.

At around midnight of that day, the families of the victims received phone calls from the Pangmapha hospital and were informed that Mr. Charnchai was dead and Mr. Som was been under special care in the hospital because of severe injuries.

The family and the villagers of Thamlord community were told by the military that the victims had died and were injured because they jumped from a military car attempting to escape from custody. Meanwhile, the explanation of Mr. Charnchai’s death by the military explained is suspicious as the villagers and the family who saw his dead body (see photo 1: injury on the body) believe the injuries are in incompatible with the explanation. According to the information we have received, there were a few scars on the body of Mr. Charnchai which seemed to indicate torture but did not look like the injuries one might receive from jumping out of a car. When the family saw the victim’s dead body, it was still bleeding from the nose for about several hours (see photo 2).

Mr. Som has been severely injured and still being hospitalised in Chiang Mai. His leg is chained since he is still suspected for using a fake ID card by the military. It has not been reported that the ID card of Mr. Charnchai was faked.

The villagers of Thamlord have raised their voices seeking a fair investigation into this case.  However, the village headman and other villagers have been warned by the police and military to stop their activities. Now not only the family of the victims but the entire village residents are scared of being threatened by authority. Recently, the military set up a new checkpoint near the village which increased the fear among the villagers more.

Mrs. Namphon, the wife of Mr. Som has reported that she was threatened by a group of soldiers at the hospital and was said stop the activity right away. Mrs. Namphon is concerned about the security of her family because their legal status as immigrants is not cleared.

Members of the National Human Rights Commission and the Lawyers Council of Thailand have visited the Pangmapha District of Maehongsorn Province for obtain details of the case. The subcommittee of campaigning against torture which has been established under the National Human Rights Commission is also aware of this case and is considering what actions to take in order to have a thorough investigation into this case conducted.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:


Pangamhpa is a border town to Myanmar and is well known as base for trading in illegal narcotics and smuggling. The military base of Shan Army which is a counterpart of Burmese government is located near the border of Pangmapha. On December 6, Mr. Som hired Mr. Charnchai as a driver to go to Myanmar. Mr. Som is immigrant worker from Myanmar with a valid work permit from Thai government.

Military and police brutality including impunity has been reported from Thailand in the past few years. The AHRC has reported the cases of impunity for military and police officers who committed brutal torture and extrajudicial killings, especially in the southern provinces. Since the military coup of September this year, the government has not lifted martial law yet and police and military abuse has kept people suffering from threats of being abducted and tortured.


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned authorities of Thailand and urge for a fair investigation into this case to be conducted immediately. Please also urge the security of the village where the victims are from would be restored, and bring the military suspects to the justice for their responsibility in causing the death and injury of the two victims.

To support this appeal, please click here:


Sample letter:


Dear_________,

THAILAND: A man in northern Thailand died allegedly by torture while in military custody

Name of the victims:
1. Charnchai Promthongchai (died), 23 years old, address: 3 Moo 1, Thamlord Sub-district, Pangmapha District, Maehongsorn Province, Thailand
2. Som Hom-orn (or Sor Nan Tha, injured), 27 years old
Name of the alleged perpetrators:
1. Soldiers from the Ad Hoc Team Ror 753, Ban Jabo military base, Pangmapha Sub-district, Pangmapha District
2. Police officers from Pangmapha District Police Station, Maehongsorn Province
Place of the incident: near the checkpoint of Baan Jabo, Pangmapha Sub-district, Pangmapha District, Maehongsorn Province
Date of the incident: from 7 to 10 December 2006

I am writing to you to express my grave concern on the alleged death and injury of two men in military custody from 7 to 10 December 2006.

According to the information I have received, the two victims who were villagers of Thamlord sub-district were arrested by military officers at near the checkpoint of Baan Jabo when they were coming back from Myanmar on December 7. The two victims, Mr. Charnchai Promthongchai and Mr. Som Hom-orn, were then brought to the Pangmapha District Police station by military officers.

Despite the fact that the victim’s family paid 1,000 Thai Baht for bail on the two victims who had been charged for the use of illegal fake ID card, the police informed the family that bail will not be allowed to the victims because of the military’s request of detaining them for seven days under martial law.

Three days later after the two victims were arrested, victim’s family visited the police station and they learned that the two victims were transferred to other place from the police station. The police did not tell anything about the two victims to the family and the family went back home without any information.

At around the midnight of that day, the victims’ families received phone calls from the Pangmapha hospital and were informed that Mr. Charnchai was dead and Mr. Som was under special care in the hospital because of severe injuries.

The family and the villagers of Thamlord community were told by the military that the victims died or were injured because they jumped from a military car attempting to escape from custody. Meanwhile, the reason of Mr. Charnchai’s death that the military explained is thought suspicious by the villagers and the family who saw his dead body.

I have learned that the injuries of the dead body of Mr. Charnchai seemed to indicate traces of torture but not the injuries that might be made from jumping from the car.

Mr. Som has suffered severe brain injuries and is still being hospitalised in Chiang Mai. His leg is chained since he is still suspected for using a fake ID card by the military. It has not been reported that the ID card of Mr. Charnchai was faked.

I have also learned that the villagers of Thamlord sub-district including the village headman have been warned by the military not to engage in the activity for seeking justice over this case. At the hospital, Mrs. Namphon, the wife of Mr. Som was also threatened by a group of military soldiers for a same reason. She is concerned about the security of her family because of their legal status as immigrants is not cleared.

Whoever the perpetrator is, crimes of death need to be investigated thoroughly and fairly and the perpetrators should be challenged by law for their responsibility. I believe that the impunity that the military and police officers have widely been enjoying in this country would never bring true prosperity as democratic society.

I therefore urge your immediate action to call a fair investigation into this case including the alleged involvement of military into severe torture of the two victims during custody. I also urge you to take any necessary steps to secure the safety of the villagers and the victims’ family so that they would not be intimidated or abused by the military in fighting for justice over the case.

In closing I wish to remind you of a concluding recommendation of the UN Human Rights Committee to the government of Thailand in 2005:

"The Committee is concerned at the persistent allegations of serious human rights violations, including widespread instances of extrajudicial killings and ill-treatment by the police and members of armed forces, illustrated by incidents such as the Tak Bai incident in October 2004 [and] the Krue Se mosque incident on 28 April 2004... The State party [Thailand] should conduct full and impartial investigations into these and such other events and should, depending on the findings of the investigations, institute proceedings against the perpetrators. The State party should also ensure that victims and their families, including the relatives of missing and disappeared persons, receive adequate redress..." (CCPR/CO/84/THA, 28 July 2005, para. 10, underline added)
I look forward your prompt intervention in this case.

Yours sincerely,

----------------

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

Mr Pachara Yutidhammadamrong
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Lukmuang Building
Nahuppei Road
Prabraromrachawang, Pranakorn
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Tel: +662 224 1563/ 222 8121-30
Fax: +662 224 0162/ 1448/ 221 0858
E-mail: ag@ago.go.th or oag@ago.go.th

PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:

1. General Surayud Chulanont
Interim Prime Minister
c/o Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 280 1404/ 3000
Fax: +662 282 8631/ 280 1589/ 629 8213
E-mail: spokesman@thaigov.go.th 

2. Mr. Charnchai Likitjitta
Interim Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor Software Park Building,
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi
Bangkok 11120
THAILAND
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
Fax: +662 502 6699/ 6734 / 6884
Email: ommoj@moj.go.th

3. Mr. Nitya Pibulsonggram
Interim Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
443 Sri Ayudhya Road
Bangkok 10400
THAILAND
Fax: +662 643 5320
Tel: +662 643 5333
Email: ommfa@mfa.go.th or permsec@mfa.go.th

4. Professor Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
422 Phya Thai Road
Pathum Wan District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 2219 2980
Fax: +66 2 219 2940
E-mail: commission@nhrc.or.th 

5. Professor Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Attn: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXECUTIONS)

6. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Safir Syed
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TORTURE)


Thank you.

Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-410-2006
Countries :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.