Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jun 2005
Source: Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Copyright: The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2005
Contact:  http://www.bangkokpost.co.th/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/39
Author: Anucha Charoenpo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Thailand

Analysis

DRUG SUPPRESSION CAMPAIGN

BANG! YOU'RE DEAD; CASE CLOSED

Human rights defenders and relatives of those killed during the
February-April 2003 campaign wonder why the authorities have stopped
investigating 1,639 of the 2,598 cases

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government seems less amenable to
the investigation into 2,598 murder-related cases during the first war
on drugs two years ago.

The government's investigation panel headed by Deputy Attorney-General
Praphan Naikowit recently disclosed the investigation results of the
so-called shooting-to-death cases.

The panel was formed in late 2003 shortly after the government could
not put up with harsh pressure from human rights advocates and
affected relatives of those who were shot dead during the anti-drugs
campaign, who believed it might be the work of some authorities in
order to show results and get rewards from the government.

In the investigation report, the panel stated that it could arrest
suspects in only 752 cases, could finally issue arrest warrants for
suspects in 117 cases, were still looking into 90 cases and had
already stopped investigating the remaining 1,639 cases due to lack of
witnesses and evidence.

In light of this, human rights defenders and relatives of those who were
killed during the three-month campaign against drugs from February to
April in 2003, came out to express their dissatisfaction at a seminar on
"War on Drugs: Success or Failure?" which was jointly held by the Thai
Health Foundation and the Press Development Institute of Thailand last
Friday at the headquarters of the Thai Journalists Association.

The defenders and the relatives were very upset and blasted the
government for ignoring and being insincere about bringing all the
offenders to justice _ some of whom were believed to be police who
might be protected by the government. To be fair, they called on the
government not to stop investigating the remaining 1,639 cases and to
try to take legal action against all people involved, regardless of
who they were.

Somchai Homla-or, coordinator of NGOs Coalition on the Protection of
Human Rights Defenders and human rights lawyer of the Law Society of
Thailand, said he was very surprised at the findings, given the fact
that authorities should have continued their investigation until all
the offenders were punished. Mr Somchai said he did not know exactly
why the investigation results came out like this. He said stopping the
investigation unfinished could lead to the assumption that the
government's war on drugs ended in "failure" because many drugs
suspects allegedly involved in the 1,639 cases were escaping arrest
and might make a comeback to the drugs trade in the near future.

"I don't know why the government dared claim a victory over drug
suppression despite the fact that a lot of drug suspects who might be
big-time drug dealers are still on the run," he said.

Mr Somchai also put the blame squarely on the intelligence-gathering
system of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and the Royal Thai
Police Headquarters, and questioned why the two state agencies were
lacking in intelligence information leading to the arrests of those
allegedly involved in the 1,639 cases.

He suspected that the authorities might be involved in the
shooting-to-death cases as each murder during the anti-drug campaign
was "very audacious". Some suspects had been chased and shot dead in
broad daylight in front of a provincial office, while others had been
shot dead in mysteriously remote areas but their bodies were dumped
along public roads.

Furthermore, he said, during the war on drugs he had found incidences
of authorities making up evidence and witnesses, in the form of
extra-judicial killings and in almost every crime case methamphetamine
pills were found scattered at the scene.

He said he understood that the authorities had to work under the
government's directives in order to meet the drugs target within a
limited time; otherwise, they might be punished or transferred out of
the area.

"We are worried about a culture of impunity taking place, the
government's war on drugs is promoting this culture in Thai society
today which we believe is undermining the country's justice process," he said.

Wasant Panich, a national human rights commissioner, also shared this
view of the government's war on drugs. He said he had received
numerous complaints from those affected by the campaign.

Mr Wasant said the affected people were divided into three groups.
They included drug blacklisted people, relatives of the dead persons
and people whose assets and property had been seized.

He said these people claimed that they and their relatives were
mistreated by the authorities, given the fact they were innocent and
were never involved in drug offences.

Having received the complaints, he said, he and his team travelled to
get first-hand information in the areas and found suspicious events
and irregularities in several drug cases. One case concerned a couple
who were shot dead on a highway at night in Tak's Mae Sot district.
Local police simply concluded that the deaths resulted from a drug
conflict as they found a packet of 197 methamphetamine pills left
inside the victims' car.

He said from his investigation this was highly unlikely because when
asked by the victims' relatives, the police had never shown them the
material evidence or other evidence linking the couple with the drug
trade.

Mr Wasant called on the government to come up with special measures
apart from the Justice Ministry's existing Crime Victims Compensation
Act to pay compensation or give necessary aid to the relatives of
those who were killed during the war on drugs. Most of the dead were
family breadwinners.

Somchai Kerdrungruang, the uncle of Jakkraphan Srisaard or Nong Fluk,
the nine-year-old boy who was shot dead by police during a car chase
on Lan Luang road, said police had overreacted to his nephew. If they
had just paused to think, or had complied with the rule of law , his
nephew would not have been killed like this.

Nong Fluk was then with his mother Pornwipha, 38, who was driving away
after seeing her husband Sathaporn ,35, being arrested in a sting
operation on Feb 23, 2003. Pornwipha has disappeared since then.

Mr Somchai said he believed the case of his nephew was one of 1,639
which police had already stopped investigating.

"I will not give up my attempt to monitor the investigation as I want
to see those who killed my nephew being charged with the crime and
thrown in jail," he said.

Pol Lt-Gen Watcharaphol Prasarnratchakit, commissioner of the
Narcotics Suppression Bureau, has said the police were ready to
re-investigate the 1,639 unfinished cases should any new evidence come
to light.

The commissioner said the statute of limitations on each crime case
lasted 20 years. But the criminal code empowered authorities to stop
investigations immediately if they found nothing leading to the arrest
of suspects. They were not halting the probe because they refused to
investigate or were turning a blind eye to the problem, the
commissioner said.

"I am very sympathetic with those affected by the government's war on
drugs and am very sorry for them. Each murder case during the war had
a different background and details, so the public must consider them
on a case by case basis," he said. The government's drugs suppression
policy was a good thing, he added, but mistakes could, and perhaps
did, happen at the operational level. To learn from this and prevent
future mistakes, research into the impact of the policy should be encouraged.

Meanwhile, human rights defenders and relatives of the victims have
called on the public to help keep an eye on the current anti-drugs
campaign which was launched in April.Without public scrutiny, they
fear a new round of killings. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake