Foreign Plane Crew 'Will Not Be Indicted'

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NORTH KOREAN ARMS PLANE

Plane crew 'will not be indicted'

By The Nation

Published on February 11, 2010

OAG may order their repatriation to face charges at home

BANGKOK: -- The Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) is unlikely to indict the five foreign crew members arrested for flying into Bangkok in a weapons-loaded cargo plane in December, making way for them to be repatriated to their country of origin, highly-placed OAG sources said yesterday.

However, the Georgia-registered Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft and the 35-tonne shipment of arms from North Korea will be seized, the sources said. The decision not to indict is reportedly being made at the request of the government, which has complied with the request of authorities in Belarus and Kazakhstan as they want to prosecute their own nationals.

Pilot Mikhail Petukhov, 54, hails from Belarus, while the other four - Alexander Zrybnev, 53; Viktor Abdullaev, 58; Vitaly Shumkov, 54; and Ilias Isakov, 53 - come from Kazakhstan.

The sources did not refer to the unsettled dispute over the demolition of the weapons, because the matter does not come under the jurisdiction of public prosecutors.

Attorney-General Julasing Wasantasing will not be announcing the indictment decision at the press conference scheduled for 1.30pm today. Instead he will hand the job over to OAG spokesman Thanaphit Mollaphruek and Kayasit Phitsawongprakan, director-general of the Criminal Litigation Department.

The decision to not indict the five suspects means they will have to be released immediately and the Foreign Ministry will have to proceed with the repatriation process, the sources explained.

Yesterday, Julasing simply said: "I have made a decision, and have assigned two senior prosecutors to announce it [today]."

A high-ranking government source yesterday reiterated yesterday that the Belarus and Kazakhstan authorities had indeed requested that they be allowed to prosecute their citizens themselves.

Under the repatriation process, public prosecutors will request the court to issue a release warrant to free the suspects, who are now being detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison.

A release record will then be sent to the police station in charge of the case - Prachachuen Police in this case - before the suspects are handed over to the immigration police, who will then officially hand them over to authorities in their own countries.

Last month, the five suspects posted an online petition addressed to the president of Kazakhstan, requesting his help while accusing Thai authorities of mistreating them and relying on false allegations.

In the Russian-language statement posted on a media website with country domain for Kazakhstan, the five men called on President Nursultan Nazarbayev to personally help release them from detention, which was a "violation of rights and freedom" based on "false allegations".

-- The Nation 2010-02-11

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[Garry9999]

A high-ranking government source yesterday reiterated yesterday that the Belarus and Kazakhstan authorities had indeed requested that they be allowed to prosecute their citizens themselves

Out of the frying pan, into the fire?

[baabaabobo]

"A release record will then be sent to the police station in charge of the case - Prachachuen Police in this case - before the suspects are handed over to the immigration police, who will then officially hand them over to authorities in their own countries." after extracting a large overstay fine

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UPDATE

topic continues here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thailand-Dro...an-t338127.html

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