FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
AHRC-PL-098-2006

THAILAND: Sacked DSI director must be investigated, AHRC says

(Hong Kong, November 6, 2006) The sacked head of a top national investigating body in Thailand should be investigated for wrongdoing, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said on Monday.

Police General Sombat Amornvivat was removed from the post of director general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on Friday over his failure to solve the case of disappeared human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit. 

The final whereabouts of Somchai, who was abducted by the police in March 2004, are unknown.

The DSI has handled the case for over a year without any outward signs of progress. However, in recent days it has been revealed that the department, with is under the justice ministry, has not acted on leads that could have resolved the case.

In an appeal, the AHRC called upon people around the world to urge the justice ministry to launch an inquiry into the work of the former DSI head.

"This is not simply a matter of incompetence but deliberate obstruction of justice," Basil Fernando, executive director of the Hong Kong-based regional group, said.

"As far back as May, the wife of the victim, Angkhana Neelaphaijit, said that there was evidence that the DSI director illegally helped the five police accused over her husband's disappearance to prepare their defence," Fernando said.

"This man may be liable to criminal prosecution," he said. 

"It is not enough simply to sideline him. He must also be investigated and if necessary, prosecuted," Fernando added.

In January 2006 one police officer was convicted in connection with the lawyer's abduction; the other four were acquitted.

The attorney general has indicated that there is sufficient evidence to lay new charges against them and other police.

The AHRC on Friday urged UN agencies to closely monitor the progress of the case to ensure that it was not "botched" as in the previous trial.

The group has sent a 141-page report to UN experts pointing to the defects in the 2004-05 investigation and trial, including mismanagement of key evidence, lack of protection for witnesses and ineffectual work by the public prosecutor.

The report is available on the Somchai Neelaphaijit homepage: http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/somchai.

"Right now, there is a very serious need for careful collection and analysis of forensic evidence and mobile telephone records, as well as protection for witnesses and the family of the victim," Fernando said.

The AHRC welcomed news that the new nominee to head the DSI is a senior judge, Justice Sunai Manomai-udom of the Court of Appeal.

"The AHRC has said for over a year that it was not appropriate to have a police officer in charge of this agency," Fernando said.

"The whole point of the DSI was to give investigating power to an agency outside of the police," he said.

"The appointment of a police general to its top post defeated this objective," Fernando noted.

In June the AHRC set up a petition calling for Sombat's removal, and reform of the DSI.

The petition, which attracted signatories and comments from throughout Thailand and around the world, was closed on Friday after it was announced that Sombat had been sacked.
 
The petition pointed to the DSI's failure in a number of human rights cases, including the murders of environmentalists Charoen Wat-aksorn and Phra Supoj Suwajo.

"The DSI has so far been a human rights failure," Fernando said.

"We keenly hope that the new director will ensure that all human rights cases under the DSI are thoroughly reviewed and pursued with renewed vigour," he said.

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.