THAILAND: Alleged abduction, torture & armed robbery of couple by police; no effective investigation despite many complaints 

THAILAND: Abduction; illegal detention; torture; robbery; attempted rape; threat to life; forced confession; attempted extortion; corruption; impunity; non-investigation; denial of redress
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information about the alleged torture and armed robbery of a man and woman by the police in Thailand. Uthai Boonnom and Amporn Kochabang allege that in 2002 they were illegally detained, assaulted, and robbed by police officers in Saraburi province who forced them to confess to drug offences. Although both of them testified to this in court and there is evidence to support their allegations, they have since been imprisoned. Uthai has complained to government and police agencies but no proper investigation has ever been conducted.

–Please note that as this case is a little complicated, the appeal is longer than usual and broken into a number of parts for easier reading–

Uthai Boonnom, now 40, and his partner Amporn Kochabang, now 35, allege that on 13 March 2002 they were stopped outside a shop on the Asia Highway in Saraburi, northeast from Bangkok, when at about 1pm two cars, one sedan and one pickup, came alongside. Two armed men got out of each car and separated them. Later they identified one of them as Pol. Maj. Chana Santikanaluk.

AMPORN’S STORY:

Amporn says that she was taken to her own car and blindfolded. The men allegedly took her jewelry, watch and purse. Then she was driven to an unknown location and asked repeatedly about her relationship to Uthai. After that she was told to wait in the car; she could hear people talking outside.

After some hours, Amporn says, she felt a man come and sit next to her. Then he rolled up her blouse and bra and squeezed and sucked her breast, and tried to remove her jeans. She fought back and shouted, “Don’t do it.” After that the man pushed her away and got out.

Amporn says that after some more time she was taken from the car and the blindfold removed. She saw that she was in the ground floor of a rural house, with a group of men standing around her. She recognised one of the men as a (Pol. Sgt.) Sawai Lisom from Phraphuttabaht District Police Station. The men told her to sign a document. When she started looking at it one of them hit her on the head and said, “Bitch! Mung [offensive word for “you”] just sign!” So she did.

UTHAI’S STORY:

Uthai says that he was put in the backseat of the pickup, handcuffed and blindfolded. He says that later he knew that one of the men sitting next to him was a Pol. Sgt. Ekachai. He heard someone saying to “take them to the safe house”. After that they were taken to a house in the forest.

Uthai says that at the house he was made to sit on the dirt floor and someone pulled him up by the face, saying that they wanted to get a look at him. Then he says that he was kicked (with boots) on his chest and back repeatedly. After that, his watch and wallet were taken. He was told to give the ATM card numbers. When he refused, he was again kicked in the back until he told them. He says that he recognised Pol. Sgt Ekachai’s voice saying, “If you are lying to me, I will beat you again.” Later he found out from his relatives that money had been withdrawn from the accounts.

After that, Uthai says, he was left alone on the floor. There was the sound and smell of cooking and drinking alcohol nearby, and the sounds of gambling. After some hours, he heard Amporn calling, “Don’t do it.”

Uthai says that he was kept blindfolded there until nighttime. Then he was lifted up and taken about twenty paces, where the blindfold was taken off. He saw about eight men standing around him. He alleges that one put a gun to his head and told him, “If you want to get out of this place, sign.” Another said, “Sign so that you can go back to your family.” They then thrust five documents in front of Uthai, and he signed them all without reading.

After that, Uthai alleges that he was taken outside to the vehicles. He saw two more persons– Thanapat Daecharath and Krisada Thanompichai, the other two accused–handcuffed and blindfolded there. He also says that he saw one man changing his car’s licence plates. He also saw Amporn being brought by another man. Then he was blindfolded again.

ARREST & COURT:

The accused were taken to Nongkhae Industrial Area where they were forced to do a re-enactment of a purchase of narcotics from an undercover officer. After that they were taken to the Saraburi Provincial Police Station at about 10pm.

Uthai says that he was taken to a small building at the back of the station. While there Pol. Sgt Ekachai came and said that if he could pay 200,000 Thai baht (USD 5000) then he could get released. After about 10 minutes he was brought to meet with Pol. Maj. Chana, who asked him if he could give the money immediately. Uthai asked for one day to get it, but he was refused.

Both Uthai and Amporn testified in court in 2003 that they had been abducted and assaulted by the police to get a forced confession; Thanapat and Krisada pleaded guilty. Amporn told the court that she wanted to complain from the start but she was afraid that her family would be threatened as a result, so she did not. She also said that she told the police investigating officer that she was innocent and had been set up by the police, but in the records many details were not included: for instance, that she was sexually assaulted and had her property taken. Uthai testified to the court that Pol. Sgt Ekachai had called and threatened his sister at the time he was due to testify. Nonetheless, he chose to speak out.

Importantly, the nurse who gave the standard cursory medical examination of Uthai when he was put in Saraburi Prison on March 15 supported his allegations of torture. The medical report he issued on the day states that, “Bruises found on chest, some bruise marks on back and both wrists scarred by handcuffs.” In court he added that the bruises must have occurred within the two or three days prior to the day of examination. He said that he asked the defendant about the bruises and he said that the police had assaulted him. But he did not write this down as the medical report for the prison is restricted to details of the prisoner’s condition. He said that there were no injuries to the other two male defendants.

However, both Uthai and Amporn were convicted. Neither has ever recovered any of their stolen possessions.

COMPLAINTS & OBSERVATIONS BY UTHAI:

Later, Uthai complained that he had been tortured and set up by the police. On 29 August 2002 one Pol. Lt. Col. Pairot Treesophon from Saraburi Provincial Police Station came to visit him about the matter. But after that he heard nothing from this officer until he appeared in court as a witness in 2003. Then he told the court that he was ordered to interview Uthai by his superior officer because of his complaints about illegal detention by the arresting team, threats, and robbery. But the police had decided that the arrest and investigation was done properly.

Uthai has since made at least 15 written complaints to government agencies and officials but to date there has been no proper investigation of his allegations. He has complained to the prime minister, judicial officials, justice ministry, senior police and independent agencies without success. Most failed to acknowledge his letters.

Uthai says that he believes that he was targetted by the police because earlier he had run a small gambling den from his house and had paid kickbacks to the police. After a quarrel, in early 2002 Pol. Sgt Nattaphong had come to Uthai’s house to arrest gamblers and Uthai had argued with him.

Uthai notes that the police records themselves can reveal that the case was faked. The police major who wrote the arrest record put exactly the same information for each of the four accused, just changing the personal details and place of arrest. The contents in each case included a reference to having “assigned an undercover officer to call the mobile phone of the accused to order meta-amphetamines”. However, Uthai has maintained that there was no such officer, phone call or other events as reported in the documents.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Prisoners and persons released from jails in Thailand with whom human rights defenders there have spoken claim that these practices are routine for the Thai police. The familiar pattern is that a group of men abduct a person, take them to a private location, rob and assault them and then offer that they can be freed from the charges in exchange for cash. Those who can pay are released, and the others are forced to confess, reenact alleged crimes and be prosecuted. Women have also allegedly been raped in the course of such incidents.

Persons accused in narcotics cases in particular are made easy targets of violence as there is a lack of public sympathy for them, whether or not the accusations have any substance or not. In 2003 more than 2500 persons were killed in the first “war on drugs” operation launched by the government (see “Extrajudicial killings of alleged drug dealers in Thailand“, article 2, June 2003, vol. 2, no. 3; www.article2.org.)

This is yet another case of alleged brutal torture by the police in Thailand. Other victims whose cases the AHRC had taken up earlier include Ekkawat Srimanta (UP-157-2005); Urai Srineh (UP-137-2005) and Anek Yingnuek and friends (UP-04-2005). None of the police officers have ever been prosecuted for any offence. In fact, the AHRC is not aware of any Thai police officer ever having been criminally punished for torturing a detainee.

The sister organisation of the AHRC, the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) in 2005 released a report entitled “Rule of law versus rule of lords in Thailand” which examined torture and other gross abuses of human rights in Thailand (article 2, April 2005, vol. 4, no. 2). Most recently it issued a related report, “Protecting witnesses or perverting justice in Thailand“, which deals with the problems of security for victims of police violence and their families (article 2, June 2006, vol. 5, no. 3).

Victims of police abuses in Thailand are unable to make complaints because there are no independent agencies to receive complaints and investigate in order to prosecute. When it was set up, the AHRC and other human rights defenders in Thailand and abroad hoped that the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) under the Ministry of Justice might be a step in the right direction. But since then the DSI has been a human rights failure, and its director, who is a policeman, is alleged to have actively protected alleged police perpetrators of abuses. The AHRC has joined with local groups and individuals to launch a petition calling for reform to the DSI and for its director to be removed: http://thailand.ahrchk.net/dsi_petition/

The AHRC has consistently pointed out that the problems of police abuses in Thailand will not be solved until there is a proper independent agency to receive and investigate complaints against the police, and initiate prosecutions. In 2005 the UN Human Rights Committee also recommended that the government of Thailand set up such an agency [CCPR/CO/84/THA]. But so far there is no evidence that the government has given any consideration to this proposal by the UN.

The AHRC has also constantly urged the government of Thailand to ratify the UN Convention against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which would bring it into line with international law on torture. The government has said for many years that it would do this but so far despite its repeated assurances it has not. The AHRC has now been reliably informed that there is a process underway to begin steps to ratify the convention after September 2006. However, it remains deeply concerned that the police force and some other security agencies will continue to be obstacles to ratification.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the Caretaker Minister of Justice to ask him for a full independent investigation into these allegations. Please also ask that the government of Thailand set up an agency to receive and investigate complaints against the police as suggested by the UN and many other agencies and human rights monitors, and ratify the Convention against Torture without more delay.

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