Leading Swiss TV Reporter Arrested In Thailand

[Maestro]

Leading Swiss TV reporter arrested, then forbidden to leave country

Christoph Müller, a leading Swiss TV reporter and producer, was handcuffed and arrested on arrival in Thailand on 27 February. He was freed on bail 24 hours later but the police confiscated his passport and he is forbidden to leave the country until further notice.

His employer, the German-language Swiss TV station SF, has described the measures as a “judicial farce” and out of all proportion to his apparent offence.

The authorities have not told Müller exactly why he was arrested but it appears to have the result of a 2006 complaint about a report by Müller in 2002 about a bogus Swiss doctor based in Thailand who was raising funds for a suspect charity.

Reporters Without Borders calls on the Thai authorities to immediately rescind the order banning him from leaving the country and to return his passport.

Source: www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30467

[Maestro]

...The authorities have not told Müller exactly why he was arrested but it appears to have the result of a 2006 complaint about a report by Müller in 2002 about a bogus Swiss doctor based in Thailand who was raising funds for a suspect charity...

A report in Swiss newspapers, in German language, based on a telephone interview with Mueller, has the following highlights:

-- Arrested at Bangkok airport on Friday, 27 February, at 3 pm. Previously never heard about the arrest warrant.

-- Spent a night in a cell, then brought to court, granted bail, passport confiscated.

-- The person Mr. Mueller suspects of having instigated the report to police is Roland Moesch, "sometimes former beer brewer, sometimes former CIA agent, but always with a dubious doctor title"

-- The Thai charity, for which Moesch solicits donations, is "C-Care Asia International"

-- When Mueller did his research for the TV documentary "The very talented Dr. Roland", aired on Swiss television in 2002, and asked to see the Aids orphanage or the chicken farm with thousands of chickens, with which the foundation advertised, Moesch could show him nothing, saying on camera that the Russian Mafia had killed all chickens with Molotov cocktails.

-- The C-Care foundation still exists and many Swiss are making donations to it.

-- Still no date for a court hearing.

This appears to be the website of C-Care Asia International, mentioning a Roland as member of the foundation's team:

http://www.ccareasia.or.th/

--

Maestro

[monkfish]

Seems to be true! This is the head reporter of national swiss tv.

http://tagesschau.sf.tv/nachrichten/archiv...iland_verhaftet

They must be after some more free publicity.

[Maestro]

Apparently, The Nation published an article critical about C-Care Asia International on 26 April 2001, was sued by the foundation and had to publish the foundation's response:

C Care Asia International Foundation has issued the following response to an article published in The Nation on April 29 entitled "Charity investigated: Mystery of the Missing Aids Kids" about the backgrounds of the foundation and one of its directors, RolandMoesch.

...

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/rea...d=roland+moesch

--

Maestro

[TheWalkingMan]

...The authorities have not told Müller exactly why he was arrested but it appears to have the result of a 2006 complaint about a report by Müller in 2002 about a bogus Swiss doctor based in Thailand who was raising funds for a suspect charity.

Arrested and not told exactly why? Is that possible?

Has anyone ever heard of this charity, made donations or visited their location(s)?

TheWalkingMan

[luvU2much500THB]

...The authorities have not told Müller exactly why he was arrested but it appears to have the result of a 2006 complaint about a report by Müller in 2002 about a bogus Swiss doctor based in Thailand who was raising funds for a suspect charity.

Arrested and not told exactly why? Is that possible?

Has anyone ever heard of this charity, made donations or visited their location(s)?

TheWalkingMan

EVERYTHING is possible in Thailand.

[jonclark]

Can't see Swiss TV giving Thailand anything other than more negtive publicity.

I bet behind the scenes there are some serious discussions being held. After all you don't ge to be head of national TV without having made some high ranking contacts of one sort or another.

As for the bit in an earlier post about the russian mafia killing the chickens with Molatov cocktails, i'd like to have seen that - thousands of chickens running around on fire, must of smelt like the worlds biggest BBQ

[johna]

Look's like Thailand want's all the international publicity it can get.

[Briggsy]

Who would like to bet the dubious charity, C-Care International, has some high-ranking invisible police protection as the boiler rooms did 5 or more years ago?

[dee123]

Who would like to bet the dubious charity, C-Care International, has some high-ranking invisible police protection as the boiler rooms did 5 or more years ago?

Boiler rooms,meaning illegal stock trading,or similar Briggsy?

[Jimjim]

The website for this "charity" is quite vague about what they do, besides their restaurant and ostrich farm.

[neverdie]

This is one of the reasons Thailand has such a wonderful reputation on the world wide stage now.......just keeps getting better and better. It would be nice if they could at least tell him why he was arrested, what the charges are etc.

There has to be more to this story.

[Briggsy]

Who would like to bet the dubious charity, C-Care International, has some high-ranking invisible police protection as the boiler rooms did 5 or more years ago?

Boiler rooms,meaning illegal stock trading,or similar Briggsy?

Correct.

[sriracha john]

This is one of the reasons Thailand has such a wonderful reputation on the world wide stage now.......just keeps getting better and better. It would be nice if they could at least tell him why he was arrested, what the charges are etc.

There has to be more to this story.

Absolutely there is... and that is why it's surprising that the OP article, written by Reporters Without Borders, contains such a dearth of details and written with the brevity and lack of detail and history that one might expect from Mears Newz (the world's smallest newspaper), instead of by an organization with 120 trail-blazing, front-line journalists reporting from around the world.

[PhilHarries]

If he's been brought to court and bailed then the charges have to have been read out.

Sounds like someone is enforcing a news blackout like "keep quiet or we'll keep you quiet, terminally".

[dee123]

This is one of the reasons Thailand has such a wonderful reputation on the world wide stage now.......just keeps getting better and better. It would be nice if they could at least tell him why he was arrested, what the charges are etc.

There has to be more to this story.

Absolutely there is... and that is why it's surprising that the OP article, written by Reporters Without Borders, contains such a dearth of details and written with the brevity and lack of detail and history that one might expect from Mears Newz (the world's smallest newspaper), instead of by an organization with 120 trail-blazing, front-line journalists reporting from around the world.

Agree SJ ....Off Topic

[steelepulse]

This was a week ago.  Wonder why it took so long for this news to get out.........................?

[Briggsy]

I would like to hear details of his 24 hours in custody. I wonder where he was held. Was it a prison or a police cell or an the immigration detention centre?

Was it the normal 36-inch width of floor space crammed between other sleeping Thai prisoners?

[Mario2008]

Off topic post deleted.

[yumidesign]

If he's been brought to court and bailed then the charges have to have been read out.

Sounds like someone is enforcing a news blackout like "keep quiet or we'll keep you quiet, terminally".

exactly

[Steve2UK]

This is one of the reasons Thailand has such a wonderful reputation on the world wide stage now.......just keeps getting better and better. It would be nice if they could at least tell him why he was arrested, what the charges are etc.

There has to be more to this story.

Absolutely there is... and that is why it's surprising that the OP article, written by Reporters Without Borders, contains such a dearth of details and written with the brevity and lack of detail and history that one might expect from Mears Newz (the world's smallest newspaper), instead of by an organization with 120 trail-blazing, front-line journalists reporting from around the world.

Gratuitously snide remarks about Reporter Without Borders - whether they have 1 or 120 "trail-blazing, front-line journalists". Their piece summarises the currently known salient facts. Maestro summarised the German-language reporting and (as a German speaker), I can confirm that his summary is accurate. Do you expect RWB to invent details and add speculation for which they have no dependable basis yet? RWB is not ThaiVisa.

Edited March 5, 2009 by Steve2UK

[sriracha john]

This is one of the reasons Thailand has such a wonderful reputation on the world wide stage now.......just keeps getting better and better. It would be nice if they could at least tell him why he was arrested, what the charges are etc.

There has to be more to this story.

Absolutely there is... and that is why it's surprising that the OP article, written by Reporters Without Borders, contains such a dearth of details and written with the brevity and lack of detail and history that one might expect from Mears Newz (the world's smallest newspaper), instead of by an organization with 120 trail-blazing, front-line journalists reporting from around the world.

Gratuitously snide remarks about Reporter Without Borders - whether they have 1 or 120 "trail-blazing, front-line journalists". Their piece summarises the currently known salient facts. Maestro summarised SF's own German-language piece and (as a German speaker), I can confirm that his summary is accurate. Do you expect RWB to invent details and add speculation for which they have no dependable basis yet? RWB is not ThaiVisa.

Not sure what on Earth you're railing on about me, although it's not surprising. I respect RSF a great deal and they normally do a tremendous job... which is why this particular press release of theirs is surprising to someone familiar with their normally much more thorough writing. It's out of character for them.

[hammered]

Time to reform the defamation laws which is what this is probably about.

[tartempion]

Daring to insult a dark Swiss fake doctor under high Thai protection must be a far worse crime than getting upset for an immigration officer claiming you carry a fake passport.

So what could the maximum sentence for Herr Mueller be, 20 years in jail if he pleads not guilty or reduced to 5 years if he admits his crimes?

Ha, where are the Iranian judges on this board, all sleeping?

[jeffer]

A Swiss reporter charged over a report made a number of years ago. Said reporter has no idea there is a warrant out for him and is arrested at Suvarnabhumi. Few details available about the charge and who instigated it. Has a familiar ring doesn't it?

Funny how it's a Swiss. Someone was telling me the other week about the coverage in the Swiss newspapers earlier this year of the Nicolaides case, how it went into a lot more detail regarding the background to the charges... payback time perhaps?

[bangkokrick]

It seems that if you upset anyone or anything in Thailand that you stand a very high chance of going to the 'Hilton'. Maybe he said something to an immigration officer, as did the Brit in Phuket. Then again he may have said or written something bad about the country. Will anyone really ever know why he was arrested and if so will it be possible to discuss the details. I think not!

These are very scary times for all foreigners that enter Thailand.

Cheers, Rick

[foxxx]

Yeah there's so much bullshit here, do anything to anyone and you stand a chance of ending up in Jail, watch any of those customs tv shows where they show asians and americans entering england and australia, they get held up and start abusing the customs staff and nothing happens, do it here and you end up in jail, say anything here and you end up in jail.

i've always felt like thailand is very communistic, there's no freedom, no freedom of speech or press, its just a country being run by corruption and the rich ad middle levels.

[dinthailand]

Can't see Swiss TV giving Thailand anything other than more negtive publicity.

I bet behind the scenes there are some serious discussions being held. After all you don't ge to be head of national TV without having made some high ranking contacts of one sort or another.

As for the bit in an earlier post about the russian mafia killing the chickens with Molatov cocktails, i'd like to have seen that - thousands of chickens running around on fire, must of smelt like the worlds biggest BBQ

read between the lines

[Briggsy]

This story's quieter than the story of the death of the Liechtenstein prince in a Bangkok prison. Something's been kept quiet here.

[dinthailand]

If he's been brought to court and bailed then the charges have to have been read out.

Sounds like someone is enforcing a news blackout like "keep quiet or we'll keep you quiet, terminally".

the press are not allowed in thai courts