Better Justice Set-Up Would Cut Inefficiency And Reduce Risk Of Further Violence: TRCT Chief

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Better justice set-up would cut inefficiency and reduce risk of further violence: TRCT chief

Achara Deboonme,

Chularat Saengpassa,

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The October massacres in 1973 and 1976, plus the bloody clashes in May 1992 and mid-2010, all point to long-standing injustice in Thai society - and the structural fault must be addressed with participation by all if similar violence is to be prevented, a top law expert says.

Former attorney-general Kanit na Nakorn drew this conclusion from 30 years of experience, including investigation into the bloodbath in 1992 and subsequent incidents. Structures must be set up to propel fairness, he said.

As a start, Thailand's legal procedures must be revamped, he said. A change must be introduced to the way police put cases together, inform affected parties, gather evidence and verify facts, to ensure that any proceeding is fair.

This was crucial if trust in the government was to be established among all Thais, he noted.

"Red armies were formulated in several countries. In Germany and Japan, they were tackled through the judicial process," said Kanit, a legal academic who was educated in Germany. He is convinced that the violence destabilising Thai society stems from social injustice.

Kanit was on the committee set up in 1992 to find the facts behind "Black May", the protest joined by over 200,000 people in Bangkok against the Suchinda government. The crackdown resulted in at least 52 deaths (that was the official figure although many say the toll was higher), hundreds of injuries, the arrest of over 3,500, and many disappearances. At the time, the committee was tasked to find people responsible for the crackdown, but the report was never released to the public.

After the coup in 2006, he was on another committee set up by the Surayud government to investigate the legitimacy of the "war against drugs" implemented by the previous regime headed by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The crackdown led to the death of over 2,000 people, some believed to be innocent. The committee concluded it was a "crime against humanity", and this led the Samak government to abolish the policy.

Kanit won another fact-finding mission two years ago, when he was made chairman of the Truth for Reconciliation Committee of Thailand (TRCT). Set up by the Abhisit government, its task is to find the facts behind the bloody crackdown in April and May 2010, which saw over 90 people killed and up to 2,000 injured.

In these roles, he had learnt enough about violence, he said, and that it should be prevented. He was pleased to see the private sector now taking action to try to stop more violence.

"It's a good sign for society. It's good to witness enthusiasm from all parties to solve public problems. Changes must be pushed by the public, to force the government to take action," he said.

In his role as chairman of the Law Reform Commission Office, a forum is planned to seek opinions from all parties on how to revamp judicial procedures.

Kanit believes current procedures have three weak points - that they are inefficient, threaten people's liberty, and are not cost-effective. In societies where public image is a priority, like Japan, wrongdoers often admit to crimes and apologise. Without a similar attitude, the cost of prosecutions in Thailand is double that of Japan.

An aim of the reform is to ensure greater fairness for the majority of Thais, who are in the agricultural sector and labour market. Many farmers are implicated in forest encroachment cases and workers are poorly treated.

"We need to start with things that concern a large number of people. We can't do everything at one time. Our resources are limited," he said.

Kanit believed that fair trials would restore public trust in the judicial system and the authorities. Trust was lost when the Constitution Court ruled in August 2000 that Thaksin did not conceal his assets despite clear evidence of having done such. This led to distrust in the 1997 Constitution, which was the first charter drawn up by all sectors of Thai society, and led to confusion, the coup and then violence.

"Everything was gone, all improvement that we had witnessed," he said.

Kanit noted that the legal system's inefficiency has led to a high number of prisoners. Jails around the country have a capacity to handle 90,000 prisoners, but these jails hold over 200,000 inmates, 37 per cent of them involved in ongoing trials.

The procedures are also costly as many cases go as far as the Supreme Court, which extends the length of prosecutions.

"Elsewhere in the world, the Supreme Court is asked to rule on conflicting laws, not make final judgements on legal cases. How can they do that when no witnesses or evidence is presented?"

This has lead to a pile-up of court cases at the Thai Supreme Court, which requires a bigger number of judges. While there are nine judges in the same court in the US, and 15 in Japan and Germany, Thailand's Supreme Court has over 100 judges. And there are over 30,000 cases waiting for them to consider.

Kanit said that only fair judicial procedures would deliver justice, and only justice would ensure no more social clashes and violence.

"Basically, humans need two things: one, is the four basic necessities [food, a home, medicine, clothes]; the other, is fairness, which must be felt inside. So we must create a mechanism to make this happen," he concluded.

-- The Nation 2012-06-05

[pakorn7]

Better justice?

You mean current justice is no good?

Go tell the court about that and you will be arrested for criticizing the court.

[noitom]

"The report was never released." Need there be more said?

[Thai at Heart]

Anything that moves the system to a system of precedent would be the best idea.

Differing judgements for similar offences is what leads to the feeling of unfairness. It isn't very easy to buy a court if the judgement is already set due to precedent and would get away from the idea that if you have wealth and position the court's decision may be favourable.

[smutcakes]

Are these people actually being paid for this rubbish? I think anyone could come out with the soundbites that they are. Have they actually brought forward one decent observation, or more importantly a practical idea for a solution?

[timewilltell]

Ah better justice!!

I have some suggestions:

• A better small claims system for claims below a certain amount with an option for that to be dealt with on documents only.
  
• Abolish the current maximum time for a hearing at one-half day (along with several other cases scheduled for the same day in the same court) and have the lawyers for each side estimate the timescale for the case, approved by the court for the hearing to take place from beginning to end. Most cases take years because of the repeated numerous adjournments between one hearing and the next (usually months between) and in any case how can any judge give a fair hearing if part of the evidence was heard by another judge at another time and just relying on notes - that system is not workable in any fair way.
  
• A police force who are required to make every effort to give force to court issued Arrest Warrants without a requirement for the Plaintiff to have to pay for the police to arrest, pay for travel expenses and tea money to the police as is the current case. Suitable disciplinary action for refusal to arrest.
  
• A sensible bail system where there is a reasonable (modern) amount payable for bail and automatic refusal of bail for certain crimes - essential evidence to be provided to the court to demonstrate a reasonable likelihood of guilt.
  
• A moratorium in fraud cases on any assets in connection with the case and deposit of other assets to the court for holding until trial where assets have been disposed of to avoid seizure and defeat the Plaintiff.
  
• A stated target for the courts for cases to be heard by - i.e. 3 months or 6 months or whatever.
  
• A requirement for Arbitration and suitable training for Arbitrators in Trade, Labour or certain other specialised areas where arbitrators are trained in that specific area and experts (well Thai style experts if you understand me) in that field with right to appeal to the court.
  
• Proper and severe punishment for anyone interfering with the judicial process with loss of job and imprisonment
  
• Build more prisons to deal with the overcrowding
  
• Better training, control and censure of the police force with a specialist investigatory body to investigate any allegation of excessive assets in certain classes of employment - local government officials, MP's, Judges and Police with suitable powers of arrest and censure.
  
• Add more accommodation or build new courts because Thailand is becoming increasingly unlawful, fraudulent and corrupt so the number of cases will only increase.
  
• Introduce the concept of Precedent as referred to by the previous poster to achieve more consistent sentencing / awards and improve the confidence in the system
  
• Amend the law generally to level the playing field between rich and poor and especially revamp the ludicrous defamation law and the lese majeste laws
  

Anyway change will come slowly I guess since the justice system seems set up to benefit the rich and stop the poor even publishing any wrongdoing since even if 100% truthful they can still be cited for defamation. Madness

[billd766]

How about a maximum time period of 3 months where the accused has skipped bail.

If the accused is not at the court within that time period then the case will proceed without him or her and the lawyers cannot be allowed any extension of the case in order to consult with the client.

If there is no accused or the lawyer present at the court on the appointed date and time then an automatic guilty verdict can be made and the sentence made. for every month the accused does not turn up another month goes onto the sentence.

If there is more than one crime then the sentences must be consecutive jail time and not lumped together and done concurrently.

[bhakta]

I won a case in the Labor Court in 2008. The verdict was appealed and the case is still pending in the Supreme Court four years later and I have no clue when a final ruling will be made. Is it frustrating? You bet it is!

[JohnAllan]

Red armies formulated in several countries, including Germany and Japan?

Khun Kanit seems to be confusing Thailand's domestic Redshirts with bona fide terrorist organisations such as Germany's Red Army [baader-Meinhof], or Italy's Red Brigade, groups.

Or perhaps he is privy to knowledge to which the rest of us are not . . .

[waza]

overall a good educated assessment of the current situation. Make you wonder why the PTP bovernment want to dilute the power of the judiciary rather than streamline it.

[gregb]

Red armies formulated in several countries, including Germany and Japan?

Khun Kanit seems to be confusing Thailand's domestic Redshirts with bona fide terrorist organisations such as Germany's Red Army [baader-Meinhof], or Italy's Red Brigade, groups.

Or perhaps he is privy to knowledge to which the rest of us are not . . .

I don't think he needs to be privy to any information that the rest of us aren't, and I don't see any conflict in his statement. There are several factions of the Thai red shirts who are quite clearly terrorists. The fact that the majority are simply employees collecting a paycheck doesn't diminish in any way the evil perpetrated by those who inflict fear on the rest of us or pine for civil war for their own nefarious ends.

[bhakta]

Being present when they nearly set central Bangkok on fire and held the country hostage, I agree the Red Shirts can be labelled terrorists, at least those who incited the violence and destruction of 2010, which is the most ghastly experience I have witnessed in my 28 years here. I was actually amazed at the tolerance Abhisit and his administration showed. Had this happened in the USA, the perpetrators would never see the light outside a jail again.

[Orac]

I think he is referring to the revolutions in 1848 which were led by intellectuals mainly disenchanted by limits imposed on free expression by royal regimes.

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