Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to inform you that a court in Thailand has dismissed an appeal against 20 persons who were arrested for demonstrating against a pipeline project. The court held that the group was exercising their freedom of assembly which was protected under the abrogated 1997 Constitution. Another case against 12 protesters from the same protest is still pending in the Court of Appeal. The AHRC urges you to write to the attorney-general and ask him to cease appealing against the court judgments in the first case, and withdraw the appeal in the second.
CASE DETAILS:
On 31 August 2007 the Court of Appeal affirmed a December 2004 lower court decision that 20 protesters were not guilty of damaging public property, carrying arms without permission, conspiring with more than ten persons to create a disturbance or do an act of violence, failing to disperse when ordered and assaulting government officials.
The court agreed with the lower court that the protesters were exercising their rights to assembly and to participate in decision making of natural resources, when they came on to the streets in Songkhla Province on 20 December 2002, in order to interrupt a mobile cabinet meeting and express their opposition to the construction of a cross-border gas pipeline into Malaysia. (For more details, please refer to the third case listed in “Human rights judgments under the 1997 Constitution of Thailand”, article 2, vol. 6, no. 3, June 2007, http://www.article2.org/mainfile.php/0603/282/.)
The rights of the protestors were all protected under section 44, 46 and 56 of the 1997 Constitution, which was thrown out by a new military coup in September 2006 (see further: Thailand’s struggle for constitutional survival, article 2, vol. 6, no. 3, June 2007, http://www.article2.org/pdf/v06n03.pdf).
The prosecutor has a months time to decide whether to file an appeal on this case, or to seek an extension.
Another case was later filed against 11 villagers and a university student who participated in the same protest. They were charged with the same offences as the 20 protesters. The case was in July 2007 dismissed in the lower court on the same reasoning, but the prosecution again filed an appeal, which is pending.
See further: AS-224-2007.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
This is another example of the sort of “evidence-less” case which prevails in Thailand. For instance, 58 men were accused of causing disruption and attacking the Tak Bai police station in 2004; the case dragged on for more than two years until the state admitted there was insufficient evidence and dropped it (AHRC-OL-060-2006).
The director of Department of Rights and Liberties Protection, Charnchao Chaiyanukij, in 2006 estimated that more than 30 percent of criminal cases sent to court lack evidence. (AS-261-2006) Without thorough investigation by the police and review by the public prosecutor, cases are easily falsified. This not only creates burdens on innocent defendants and wastes public funds, but also causes pressures on the judiciary and unnecessary delays in other cases.
While many innocents are wrongly charged in court, the public prosecutor fails to bring those who committed heinous crimes to court. For example three army officers were named responsible for the 28 deaths in the Krue Se killing after a postmortem inquest have not yet been charged with any offence (UP-069-2007).
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the attorney general of Thailand, and ask him to close the two cases and cease appealing where no evidence exists upon which to do so.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
THAILAND: Please close cases against persons accused of wrongdoing for demonstrating against the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline project
I am writing to ask your office to close the two cases against protesters who were arrested for protesting against the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline project in 2002.
The first case was filed in 2002 against 20 persons, including 12 NGO workers and eight villagers. The case was dismissed both in the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal (Black Case No. 195/2546, Red Case No. 2321/2547, Songhkla Provincial Court).
The other was filed in 2004 against 11 villagers and a university student. The case was dismissed in the Court of First Instance and now pending in the Court of Appeal (Black Case No. 1044/2547, Red Case No. 333/2550, Songkhla Provincial Court).
Both the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal have dismissed these cases. The courts have agreed that the protesters were exercising their rights to assembly protected under section 44 of the abrogated 1997 Constitution. Under section 46 and 56 of the Constitution, they also had the right to express their opinions on the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline project, a large project likely to affect the quality of the environment.
I am disappointed that the prosecutor had filed the two cases despite insufficient evidence against the defendants. The quality of evidence presented by the police is indicative by a video edited out of sequence, and a red flag on a bamboo pole which the police claimed to indicate the defendants’ violent intentions.
Meanwhile, although innocents are being brought into courts in Thailand without sufficient evidence, I wonder why some powerful persons who have committed heinous crimes are still walking free and out of reach of the justice system, like General Pallop Pinmanee, Colonel Manas Kongpan and Lieutenant Colonel Tanaphat Nakchaiya who have been identified as responsible for the Krue Se killing in a post mortem inquest (Pattani Provincial Court, Black Case No. Chor 4/2547). Although the inquest was completed in 2006, up to now no legal action has been taken against any of them.
Since the courts have already unequivocally ruled against the state on these cases, I do not see any ground for further appeals. Therefore, I urge you to close these cases to avoid a further waste of state funds and unnecessary harassment of ordinary persons who were exercising their legal rights, and instead concentrate on bringing to justice officers responsible for the many grievous crimes that have occurred during recent years in Thailand, against whom ample evidence exists to secure convictions.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:
Mr. Pachara Yutidhammadamrong
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Lukmuang Building
Nahuppei Road
Prabraromrachawang, Pranakorn
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Tel: +662 224 1563/ 222 8121-30
Fax: +662 224 0162/ 1448/ 221 0858
E-mail: ag@ago.go.th or oag@ago.go.th
PLEASE SEND THE COPIES TO:
1. General Surayud Chulanont
Interim Prime Minister
c/o Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 280 1404/ 3000
Fax: +662 282 8631/ 280 1589/ 629 8213
E-mail: spokesman@thaigov.go.th
2. Mr. Charnchai Likitjitta
Interim Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor Software Park Building,
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi
Bangkok 11120
THAILAND
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
Fax: +662 502 6699/ 6734 / 6884
Email: ommoj@moj.go.th
3. Professor Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
422 Phya Thai Road
Pathum Wan District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 2219 2980
Fax: +66 2 219 2940
E-mail: commission@nhrc.or.th
4. Mr. Leandro DESPOUY
UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers
Room: 3-060
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)
