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UPDATE (Thailand): General did nothing to stop mass killing; attempt to intimidate lawyers for victims' families in court

June 16, 2007

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Update on Urgent Appeal

16 June 2007

[RE: Re: UA-143-2004: THAILAND: At least 84 people killed in Southern Thailand on 25 October 2004; UP-65-2004: THAILAND: A list of the victims of the mass killing in Narathiwat province; Immediate international intervention needed; UP-25-2005: THAILAND: Three generals found responsible for mass killing transferred without penalty; UP-094-2006: THAILAND: Trial opens against 58 accused in Narathiwat protest; key witnesses for prosecution go missing; UP-126-2006: THAILAND: Trial continues against 58 accused in Narathiwat protest; key witnesses for prosecution absent or ignorant; UP-201-2006: THAILAND: Important events marking 2nd anniversary of mass killing; UP-051-2007: THAILAND: Inquest into deaths of 78 men going on in Bangkok; UP-056-2007: THAILAND: Doctor tells court that Tak Bai victims died of asphyxiation after assault; no full autopsies done]
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UP-083-2007: THAILAND: General did nothing to stop mass killing; attempt to intimidate lawyers for victims' families in court

THAILAND: Mass extrajudicial killing; denial of custodial rights; impunity
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MASS KILLING AT TAK BAI
http://thailand.ahrchk.net/takbai

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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has closely followed the postmortem inquest of 78 people who died in army custody after protesting outside Tak Bai police station in October 2004 (UP-056-2007). In recent hearings, the army general in charge on the day testified that he knew that the protesters were piled up on each other in army military trucks when they were transferred to the army camp, but apparently he did nothing to stop it. Also, during the hearing an unidentified man approached the lawyers for the victims' families in court and advised them not to ask the general difficult questions in an apparent attempt to intimidate them; however, the presiding judge did nothing to restrain the man or have him removed from the courtroom. 

TESTIMONY OF GENERAL PISARN:

On June 5, General Pisarn Wattanawongkiri testified at the inquest into the Tak Bai killings going in the Songkhla Provincial Court. Gen. Pisarn is the former Fourth Army Region commander. He was the highest military officer present at Tak Bai on 25 October 2004, and is one of the three army officers named by a government-appointed investigating committee as being responsible for the killing (AHRC-OL-008-2007). After arresting the protesters, his team decided to transfer them to Ingkayuthaboriharn Army Camp, in neighbouring Pattani Province. Yet, he left the scene before the operation was completed, leaving his deputy, Major General Chalermchai Wirunpeth, to take care of the situation.

Gen. Pisarn testified that he knew that there were not enough trucks for the protesters and that they had to piled up one on top of the other; he said he disagreed with the method, but he did not mention that he had done anything stop it. He testified that he had also seen the police kick protesters and order them to take off their shirts.

The public prosecutor's motion stated that Gen. Pisarn was the one who ordered the crackdown; however, he did not give details about his order. He testified that at around 3pm the protesters started to lose control and that somebody had fired; however, he did not know whether the shots came from the protesters or the army. He was then pushed down on the floor by one of his subordinates. He said that when he and other officials regained control, he learned that some protesters had died. (Another seven persons were killed outside the police station in addition to the 78 who died on the trucks.) During cross-examination, he avoided the question of whether or not the army used firearms in the crackdown, but repeatedly emphasized that he had ordered his subordinates to restrain from doing so. The soldiers were carrying M16s, SK33s and handguns at that time.

LAWYERS INTIMIDATED IN COURT:

During a break in the proceedings, a man who was in the audience at the court approached one of the lawyers for the families of the deceased persons who had been asking the general difficult questions. He put his hand on the lawyer's shoulder and told him that the general is a good person. He then moved to another lawyer for the families of the deceased, repeated the same thing and warned him not to ask harsh questions to the general.

After the break, the first lawyer continued the cross-examination. Suddenly, the unidentified man got up from the public observation area and moved to the lawyers' table. Members of the audience were shocked by his sudden action; however, the judge did nothing to stop him. The lawyer had to stop the cross-examination and himself asked the man to go back to his seat.

OTHER TESTIMONIES:

On June 1, Pol. Lt. Col. Suthichai Limsiriwong, who examined the bodies of 24 of the victims in the Ingkayuthaboriharn Army Camp, also gave evidence in the Nonthaburi Provincial Court. Pol. Lt. Col. Suthichai is deputed to the Central Institute of Forensic Science, under the Ministry of Justice. He concluded that all the 24 victims died because of suffocation caused by the pressure on the bodies piling on each other. He also recorded bruises and lacerations on some of the bodies, caused by them being hit with blunt objects before death.

Other hearings continued in Songkhla on June 12 and again on June 15. On June 12 two members of paramilitary units testified to the court about what they had observed at the scene of the Tak Bai police station and in transporting the detainees to the army camp. One acknowledged that although the protest was aggressive, he did not see any weapons being held by the assembled persons and nor anything with which to destroy or burn the police station, as later claimed by the authorities.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

General Pisarn (promoted from lieutenant general at the time of the killings) earlier was part of the needless prosecution case against 58 of the protestors outside the Tak Bai police station, which was dropped for lack of evidence in October 2006. During that case he failed to appear in court on the appointed days, causing delays and inconveniencing the defendants, who were mostly ordinary villagers. See further: AS-143-2006; AS-083-2006; UP-178-2006.

FURTHER INQUEST DATES:

The rest of the hearings will be held in Songkhla Provincial Court. The AHRC urges all human rights defenders and concerned persons in Thailand to please attend. The details are as the follows:

Witnesses for the public prosecution (9am to 4.00pm daily)
June 19, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29
July 3, 4, 5
Witnesses for the families of the deceased (9am to 4.00pm daily)
August 1, 2, 8, 9, 28, 29, 30
September 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27
October 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25 
Venue: Songkhla Provincial Court, Platha Road, Boyang Subdistrict, A. Muang, Songkhla
Case No.: Chor 2/2548

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-083-2007
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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.