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UPDATE (Thailand): Defamation case dropped but police insist on “5 bullet suicide” 

Urgent Appeal Update |Thailand | November 15, 2005

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: UP-135-2005
ISSUES: Extrajudicial killings, Impunity,

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that five Thai police officers have dropped defamation complaints against a senior forensic scientist and government bureaucrat over comments that an apparent extrajudicial killing could not be a suicide as claimed by the police. However, the AHRC has also learnt that the police have insisted that the death was suicide and lodged a report with the public prosecutor to that effect.

Please write to the Minister of Justice to express your continued concerns over this case, and call for the matter to be taken up by the Department of Special Investigation under his ministry.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
———————————————————

UPDATED INFORMATION:

As the AHRC reported previously, on 21June 2005, five officers from the Bang Khunthien police station, in Bangkok filed defamation complaints against a senior forensic scientist and bureaucrat because they stated that a man who was shot five times could not have committed suicide (UA-107-2005).

Since then, the police have dropped the defamation complaints; however, they have continued to maintain that Mr Sunthorn Wongdao committed suicide on May 21 after being surrounded by their officers. This is despite the fact that the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) concluded that it could not have been suicide, as the victim had four bullets through his lung and one through his head and the body had been rearranged after the death. Nonetheless, the AHRC has been informed that the police autopsy confirmed that the death was due to suicide and that a lengthy report to this effect has been lodged with the public prosecutor.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

This case speaks to the persistent problems associated with the use of forensic science and the control that the police have over all aspects of the investigation process in Thailand, on which the AHRC and its sister organization the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) have commented frequently (see in particular the ALRC report and supplementary report to the UN Human Rights Committee on Thailand in 2005). As the public prosecutor has no power to investigate the case directly, at most the prosecutor can return the file to the police and request that they undertake further investigations. There is no effective independent channel through which an alleged extrajudicial killing can be investigated.

Recently, the newly-appointed director of the CIFS, Dr Porntip Rojanasunan (the subject of the dropped defamation case), was reported as having again challenged the standard and manner of police autopsies. Speaking on October 28, she said that many corpses are being brought to the CIFS by relatives unhappy with the autopsies done by police surgeons. In one case, she said, the CIFS investigated the body of a lawyer whom the police autopsy report said had died after falling off a bicycle. The CIFS investigation found that the man had been beaten to death.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the Minister of Justice to express your continued concerns over this case, and in view of its seriousness and the questions hanging over it, call for it to be investigated by the Department of Special Investigation under his ministry, rather than by the police.

 

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Pol. Gen. Chidchai

Re: Call for DSI to investigate death of Mr Sunthorn Wongdao in Nonthaburi Province

I write to express my persistent concern over the death of Mr Sunthorn Wongdao in Bang Yai district, Nonthaburi Province, on 21 May 2005. According to the information I have received, the police forensic science unit has concluded that Mr Sunthorn committed suicide, although the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) under your Ministry reached the opposite conclusion.

While I am pleased to hear that the police officers of Bang Kunthien District Police Station who were connected with the death of Mr Sunthorn have dropped defamation charges against Dr Porntip Rojanasunan and Mr Manit Suthaporn over their statements that the death could not have been suicide, that the police have continued to insist that Mr Sunthorn killed himself is cause for grave concern.

In view of the seriousness of this case and the contradictory reports of forensic experts involved, I urge you to see that the Department of Special Investigation under your ministry take up the case, if it has not done so already. It is clearly inappropriate that the police who themselves have been connected with this killing have also managed and concluded the entire investigation.

I would like to add that this case again points to the persistent problems associated with the use of forensic science and the control that the police have over all aspects of the investigation process in Thailand, and urge you to make the push for the necessary reforms so that the exclusive power of the police over investigations is broken.

I also draw your attention to recent remarks by Dr Porntip Rojanasunan, who said that many corpses are being brought to her institute by relatives unhappy with the autopsies done by police surgeons. I trust that in your capacity as Minister of Justice you will work hard to strengthen and enhance the role of the CIFS with a view to more effective and accountable forensic science being done in Thailand in the future.

Yours sincerely,

------------------------------------------

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

Pol. Gen. Chidchai Wanasatidya
Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi
Bangkok 11120
THAILAND
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
Fax: +662 502 6699/ 6734 / 6884
Email: ommoj@moj.go.th or chidchai@moj.go.th

PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:

1. Pol. Lt. Col. Dr Thaksin Shinawatra
Prime Minister
Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 280 1404/ 3000
Fax: +662 282 8631/ 280 1589/ 629 8213
E-mail: thaksin@thaigov.go.th or govspkman@mozart.inet.co.th

2. 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?

3. Prof. 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 or saneh@nhrc.or.th?

4. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Atten: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS)
E-mail: lventre@ohchr.org

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission

 
 
Document Type : Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID : UP-135-2005
Countries : Thailand,
Issues : Extrajudicial killings, Impunity,

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