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UPDATE (Thailand): Third special call for observers to attend court hearings over missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit

October 2, 2005

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

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Update on Urgent Appeal

3 October 2005

[RE: FA-06-2004: THAILAND: A human rights lawyer Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit missing… UP-20-2005: THAILAND: Human rights lawyer still missing after nearly one year; Action needed today to have case transferred; UP-24-2005: THAILAND: Thai minister refuses to act on missing human rights lawyer case; UP-37-2005: Thai PM orders action on missing human rights lawyer, while court hears of torture; UP-45-2005: Wife of missing human rights lawyer intimidated; UP-49-2005: THAILAND: Government commits to giving witness protection to missing lawyer's family; UP-89-2005: THAILAND: Repeated failed commitment to assign Department of Special Investigation to Somchai case; UP-107-2005: THAILAND: Special call for observers to attend September 7, 8 & 9 court hearings over missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit; UP-110-2005: THAILAND: Second special call for observers to attend court hearings over missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit]
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UP-116-2005: THAILAND: Third special call for observers to attend court hearings over missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit

THAILAND: Disappearances; Attacks on human rights defenders; Impunity
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Dear friends,

The trial of five police officers in connection with the disappearance of prominent Thai human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit is again continuing in the Criminal Court in Bangkok on October 4, 5 & 6. These are the last witnesses being called by the public prosecutor, among them police investigators and other parties to the investigation stage of the inquiry, including those connected with the records of the defendants' mobile phone usage.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is today making its third special call to all concerned groups and persons in Thailand to attend the trial as observers. Please refer to our first call for observers (UP-107-2005) for an explanation of the case and reasons that observers are very important in the court.

Some important practical information and details of recent developments is given below. 

LOCATION & TIMES

The Criminal Court is located on Ratchadapisek Road, Ladprao, next to the Courts of Appeal and Civil Court. It is best reached by taxi or private vehicle; however, it is in walking distance of the Ladprao BTS station and busses run past the front of the building. The trial is ordinarily conducted in room 811, or another room on the 8th floor.

The morning session is scheduled to begin at 9am. The afternoon session is scheduled for 1:30pm. Each session runs around three hours. Occasionally testimonies are concluded by the end of the morning session.

KEY PERSONS IN THE COURT

Judge: Mr Suwit Pornpanich and two assistant judges

Accused (seated on the right of the court)
1. Police Major Ngern Tongsuk
2. Police Lieutenant Colonel Sinchai Nimbunkampong
3. Police Lance Corporal Chaiweng Paduang
4. Police Sergeant Rundorn Sithiket
5. Police Lieutenant Colonel Chadchai Leiamsa-ngoun

CHARGES

Coercion & gang robbery under sections 309 & 340 of the Penal Code of Thailand

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE HEARINGS

September 20

In the morning, Pol. Maj-Gen Chuan Voravanich, head of the Crime Scientific Detection Division said that there was no forensic evidence in Somchai's recovered car to link the defendants to the lawyer's disappearance, but acknowledged that persons familiar with the work of forensic investigators may know how to remove such evidence.

[Police investigators were criticized in the media shortly after the abduction for having damaged potentially valuable forensic evidence by sitting in the car and otherwise interfering in the crime scene before forensic experts had an opportunity to do their work.]

Then the latest in a number of witnesses reversed or raised doubts about his testimony to police investigators earlier. Telephone records showed that Pol. Snr. Sgt-Maj. Vijak (a.k.a. Mongkol) Petsuwan, of the Crime Suppression Division, had made a phone call to Pol. Maj. Ngern after Somchai's disappearance. In the initial investigation he said that he had made called Pol. Maj. Ngern on 13 & 15 March 2004. But in court he said that he was forced to say this by metropolitan police investigators at Bang Kho Laem police station on 3 June 2004. He said that he was threatened and told that if he did not cooperate he would be transferred to an inactive post. He said that he had left his telephone on his desk and another person could have used it. Pol. Snr Sgt-Maj. Vivak is believed to have had a connection to the investigation into some of the disappeared lawyer's clients, who have alleged that they were tortured (see UP-107-2005).

At least two other key witnesses have partially retracted or reversed their testimonies before the court, casting doubts over the investigation process into the case, which was led by the metropolitan police. The senior-most lawyer for the defence has sought to paint the prosecution of his clients as a result of an internal conflict between different wings of the police force.

In addition to the above witnesses, two other police officers testified before the court as their phone numbers had come up on records of phones belonging to the defendants. However, neither of them testified that they knew anything about the defendants' whereabouts or other details of the case.

September 21-23

The metropolitan police investigator responsible for researching the defendant's telephone records, Pol. Maj. Thinnakorn Kesornbua, took the stand. In his testimony he indicated that telephone records showed that the five accused had called one another 75 times in the hours before the disappearance of Somchai on 12 March 2004. By contrast, they had called one another only rarely in the days before that and the days after that. The calls were also made from areas close to where Somchai was known to have been at the time, said Pol. Maj. Thinnakorn. After Somchai's car was found on March 16 the number of calls between the five suddenly increased again to more than 30. The defence lawyers again probed the testimony of the witness seeking to demonstrate that his investigation was motivated by a conflict among members of the police force, they also sought to show that the defendants had legitimate reasons for being in those areas, including that the wife of one of them had had a child at a nearby hospital.

SUBSEQUENT HEARINGS
 
On October 18 to 21 the joint prosecutor representing the wife of the victim, Ms Angkhana Neelaphaijit, will present his witnesses. Subsequently, the defence will call witnesses in a series of hearings that will continue to January.

FURTHER BACKGROUND TO THE CASE

The AHRC has released copious material speaking to the importance of the disappearance of Somchai Neelaphaijit. Some of the recent appeals and updates include: UP-20-2005, UP-24-2005, UP-37-2005, UP-45-2005, UP-49-2005 and UP-89-2005.  A webpage compiling all information on the case will be made available shortly. In July, the sister organization of the AHRC, the Asian Legal Resource Centre, invited the wife of the missing human rights defender to attend the hearings on Thailand of the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva.

For additional information or inquiries regarding the case please contact the Urgent Appeals Desk of the AHRC.

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-116-2005
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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.