Council slams police action against lawyer

By KESINEE TAENGKHIAO 
THE NATION

 

 

THE PRESIDENT of the Lawyers Council of Thailand, Thawal Ruyaporn, has slammed the police Crime Suppression Division (CSD) for forcing lawyer Sukit Phoonsrikasem to the ground and handcuffing him at Bangkok’s Phaholyothin Police Station on Tuesday afternoon.

 

“That was an over-reaction, beyond the call of police duty, because Sukit was at the police precinct; he was not trying or obstruct police from arresting him,” Thawal told a press conference on Wednesday. 

 

Thawal said a fact-finding committee had been assigned to probe the incident – also caught in photos and video that has gone viral on social media – and present their findings to the council’s meeting on June 28 because Sukit was apprehended in an “inappropriate and excessively violent” manner while he was serving as a lawyer. 

 

Thawal said the council was deciding its next move to protect the profession and would leave it to the courts to decide whether police had “over-reacted” as alleged.

 

Meanwhile, Sukit, who was later freed on bail and reportedly treated in a hospital for an injured hip and bruises, told The Nation that he would file a complaint against CSD commander Pol Maj-General Maitree Chimcherd, who is the supervisor of the 10 officers who had “over-reacted”. 

 

He said the injury was sustained due to the manner in which he was arrested and he was awaiting a medical certificate – expected in 2-3 days – to back up his claim.

 

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, who is in charge of police affairs, said the police action was probably prompted by resistance from the lawyer. Prawit told reporters at Government House, “The police are doing their job. After being asked to go to the interrogation room nicely, he wouldn’t and resisted. If he had just walked, this wouldn’t have become an issue.”

 

CSD deputy commander Pol Colonel Charoonkiat Pankaew, who was part of the arresting team, insisted that police had acted as per the Criminal Procedure Code and there was no over-reaction or use of weapons. He said the police action was appropriate in the situation due to the flight risk and the obstruction faced by officers. He said the council should not try to create a “negative norm”. He said Sukit was within his rights to sue the police.

 

Sukit was at the precinct as the lawyer of a self-proclaimed spirit medium to file a defamation complaint against another person, when he was apprehended after reportedly refusing to go quietly with the CSD officers who served him with a warrant over forest encroachment in Tak and illegal possession of a protected wildlife carcass [a Kalij pheasant]. 

 

Amid the chaos, the 49-year-old medium, Saengsuriyathep Phramahasuriya, slipped out of the precinct without filing the complaint against Atchariya Ruangratanapong, a lawyer and chairman of the Facebook group for assisting crime victims. She later returned with a new lawyer to file the complaint.

 

Saengsuriyathep had previously been hit by a complaint filed with the CSD on June 18 by Atchariya, along with Jatukam Ramathep amulet expert Thanat Chaiwachirasak and a Thai administrator of Facebook group “Bee F**kGhost”, which opposes superstition. The three men accused Saengsuriyathep of insulting the monarchy [by claiming to be a medium of past kings’ spirits] and promoting false information to the public – both accusations denied by her. She claimed that she only was a medium for Jatukam Ramathep and she didn’t make any false claims or demand money from those seeking her services. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30348232

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-6-20

That's the spirit!

,,,not in this case...but in others.....

 

...have you ever heard of the council policing their own....???

 

....so many horror stories of lawyer misconduct.....

 

....have you ever heard of the council doing anything....

 

...have you ever tried to approach them to uphold your rights in a grievance against a lawyer...???

its about time they arrested one of the lawyer scumbags that are everywhere in Thailand, forest encroachment, killing protected species, both are criminal offences yet he is upset he was arrested, too bad, you do the crime you do the time, something these legal scumbags think they are above

More inactive positions up for grabs then. Over zealous and over paid incompetence. 

Our own experience with a "Certified Thai Lawyer" was that our B30,000 was received in "good" faith and years later the land office sent us notice that the "alleged lawyer's actions" were not taken to the Land Office. Efforts to locate "Criminal" lawyer were fruitless. Wife tearfully pleaded B500,000 action down to B 50,000. Hereafter we work with American Thai certified Lawyer in Bangkok.

After being asked to go to the interrogation room nicely, he wouldn’t and resisted.

 

Anyone who has watched the video of the 'arrest' shown repeatedly on all major Thai TV Channels would disagree that the victim 'resisted'. Following a verbal delivery of the charges directly to the lawyer one of the officers extended a hand to take the lawyers left arm and seems to say 'this way' and the lawyer simply throws up both his hands in a 'don't touch me' gesture. He is immediately set upon by half a dozen lawmen and thrust to the ground with knelt upon. The man is overweight and appears in poor health and the use of the force shown was not warranted. He attended the police station with a lady client whom he represents and did so voluntarily seemingly unaware that there was an arrest warrant against him.