UPDATE (Thailand): First call for special investigation chief to resign over Somchai case 

[RE: 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-77-2005: THAILAND: Department of Special Investigation fails to bring justice to Charoen Wat-aksorn case; UP-89-2005: THAILAND: Repeated failed commitment to assign Department of Special Investigation to Somchai case; UP-004-2006: THAILAND: Verdict in case of missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit due on January 12; UP-015-2006: THAILAND: Minister of Justice must clarify continued contradictions after verdict in Somchai Neelaphaijit case; UP-049-2006: THAILAND: Minister of Justice must address recent issues that have arisen concerning disappeared human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit; UA-112-2005: THAILAND: Murder of Thai monk following an environmental and land dispute with local influential business figures; UP-028-2006: THAILAND: Protection withdrawn from monk who continues to receive death threats; UA-153-2004: THAILAND: Two cases of extremely serious torture and cruel and inhuman treatment by Thai police officers; UP-71-2004: THAILAND: More serious allegations of police torture emerge in Thailand; UP-75-2004: THAILAND: Demand immediate criminal action against police torturers; UP-78-2004: THAILAND: Torture cases transferred to special investigators, but police still free; UP-157-2005: THAILAND: Alleged tortured victim withdraws his complaint against the police]
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UP-061-2006: THAILAND: First call for special investigation chief to resign over Somchai case

THAILAND: Gross negligence; impunity; unaccountability
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been repeatedly disappointed by the Director General of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) over the case of disappeared Thai human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit. Persons close to the case have said that Pol. Gen. Sombat Amornvivat is the main obstacle to its progress. Under his management, the DSI has also failed to solve other serious human rights cases in Thailand, despite having the resources and powers to do so. Therefore, the AHRC is today making its first call for the resignation of Pol. Gen. Sombat, and for a better replacement who will make a firm commitment to act on these cases.

As the AHRC has frequently reported, Somchai Neelaphaijit disappeared from Bangkok on 12 March 2004 (for all case details see www.ahrchk.net/somchai). Before the end of the month, the AHRC received a letter from the interior minister, stating that the case was “receiving much attention from relevant authorities”. In August 2004, a further letter was received from the justice minister, saying that an ad hoc committee under the responsibility of the Special Investigation Department had been set up to gather forensic evidence and to investigate the case. This information was reinforced in a letter of May 2005 from a senior justice ministry bureaucrat, who stated that his agency was working on the case together with the DSI, and that the inquiry was ongoing.

In October 2005 the AHRC heard directly from the director general of the DSI, Pol. Gen. Sombat Amornvivat. Pol. Gen. Sombat informed the AHRC that the Somchai case was transferred to the DSI only on 19 July 2005. He added that a group of 18 officers–himself in command–had been assigned to the case, and “governmental officials in other agencies and a Special Case consultant have been appointed to assist in investigation and inquiry”.

Despite the promises of action, two years have now passed since Somchai’s disappearance but his body has still not been recovered, nor have the perpetrators been made accountable. In January 2006 the prime minister himself stated that murder charges would be laid against the perpetrators by the end of February–a statement backed by Pol. Gen. Sombat. But the date has now long passed, and there is no evidence of real progress.

Responsibility for the failure of this case lies primarily with Pol Gen. Sombat. He started his job a few months before Somchai was abducted. He has been in authority throughout and it is his duty to ensure that cases accepted by the DSI are impartially and effectively investigated. However, according to our sources, Pol. Gen. Sombat has frustrated the investigation rather than furthered it (see also “DSI under fire for lack of progress”).

A clear example of this has been in the recent search for Somchai’s body. According to mobile phone usage documents of one defendant alleged to be involved in Somchai’s disappearance, his last calls were to police in Ratchaburi Province. Therefore, on 9 and 17 March 2006, several human rights defenders working together with the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) went to a location there where they found some human bones. At Mae Klong River, a petrol tank was found with traces of blood and fat; further tests by the CIFS need to be done to determine the origin of the substances. However, Pol. Gen. Sombat and the DSI did not take the lead role in any of this work, and lack initiative in searching for–and fully investigating–other possible sites where the remains may be found.

There are concerns that Pol. Gen. Sombat is deliberately obstructing the case. He has been given–or otherwise made aware of–vital information; however, he has allegedly not given this information to investigators under his authority. Pol. Gen. Sombat alone is reportedly privy to information that includes eyewitness testimonies to Somchai’s murder. However, his staff persons have been found to not know about the existence of this and other vital information.

The AHRC has concluded that Pol. Gen. Sombat has failed as Director-General of the DSI and has demonstrated either sheer incompetence or deliberate maliciousness in the investigation of Somchai’s disappearance. In either case, he should resign. If the failure is deliberate, then serous questions need to be considered, such as why Pol. Gen. Sombat is obstructing the course of justice and who holds such an influence over him?

ADDITIONAL CASES

The case of Somchai Neelaphaijit is by no means the only one that has shown Pol. Gen. Sombat to be a failure as head of the DSI. Other human rights cases in the hands of the DSI have gone nowhere.

One case is the murder of Phra Supoj Suwagano, an environmentalist monk. The DSI has never identified the masterminds of his 17 June 2005 killing. What is more, there have been numerous campaigns for the DSI to offer protection to Phra Kitisak Kitisophon, who was also involved in the environmental campaign together with Phra Supoj. However, protection was only supplied by the police and was subsequently withdrawn in October 2005 (refer to UA-112-2005 and UP-028-2006) The DSI has failed to offer protection to Phra Kitisak or to throw any light on the reasons for Phra Supoj’s murder. An earlier murdered environmentalist’s case that has lain dormant with the DSI is that of Charoen Wat-aksorn, unresolved since 2004 (UP-077-2005). His family too has expressed dissatisfaction in the work of the DSI.

Yet another failed DSI case relates to the brutal torture of Ekkawat Srimanta. The police officers allegedly responsible for the torture are still free and have retained their jobs (UP-78-2004), despite the overwhelming weight of evidence against them. Due to the fact that the police remained in positions of authority, they were able to coerce their victim, who withdrew his complaint in December 2005 (UP-157-2005). Other torture cases that should have been taken up by the DSI have not, such as like allegations by Anek Yingnuek and friends (UP-088-2005). Similarly, numerous alleged extrajudicial killings have not been treated as “special”, despite requests by relatives, the AHRC and other agencies: see for instance UA-107-2005.

Collectively, these and other cases speak to the failure of Pol. Gen. Sombat to do his job and ensure that the DSI fulfils its mandate to investigate special cases independently, in particular, human rights violations, in the public interest. The AHRC has therefore run out of patience with Pol. Gen. Sombat and today is making its first call for his resignation.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write a letter to the caretaker Prime Minister of Thailand, asking him to request Pol. Gen. Sombat Amornvivat to resign from his post as Director General of the DSI. Please ask that a more suitable and impartial person be given the position, in order that all cases of serious concern taken up by the DSI, particularly human rights cases, be given the highest priority.

 

 

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