Thai Police Get Death Penalty In Drug War Killing

[sscsamui]

I wonder if Mr T will ever be charged with extrajudicial killing...

[ralphlsasser]

We all know a death sentence will not be done. Just a show. Someone will come up with enough money to make them eledgable for parol.

[MAJIC]

And who was it,who arranged a 3 months purge on drug dealers (many unproven), and started it, with the infamous words"Bring them in Dead or Alive" ?

[webfact]

Death terms for police guilty of murdering youth, 17

Kesinee Taengkhieo

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Criminal Court yesterday handed down a guilty verdict to five former Kalasinbased policemen for their involvement in the extrajudicial killing of a 17yearold boy in 2004. Three of them were sentenced to death, another to life imprisonment, and the other to seven years in jail.

The death sentence was meted out against three police senior sergeant majors Angkarn Kammoonna, Sudtinan Noanting and Pansin Uppana. They were 48, 43, and 42 years old respectively. They were also found guilty of trying to cover up their crime.

Pol Lt Colonel Sumit Nansatit, who was serving as deputy superintendent of Muang Kalasin station at the time of the murder, was convicted of collaborating in the premeditated murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

His supervisor Pol Colonel Montri Sriboonleu, the former superintendent of Muang Kalasin Police, was found guilty of trying to help his subordinates escape the reach of the law. He was ordered to serve a sevenyear jail term.

The court found Angkarn, Sudtinan, Pansin, and Sumit strangled Kiatisak Titboonkrong, a 17yearold suspect in a motorcycletheft case, in Kalasin on 22 July 2004. They and Montri then had Kiatisak's body moved to Roi Et and make it appear like Kiatisak hanged himself.

Kiatisak's family suspected foul play in his death and lodged a complaint. From July 30, 2004 to April 27, 2005, Sumit and Montri had intimidated the victim's family. All these police denied any wrongdoing. The court, however, found solid evidence against them and handed down the guilty verdicts yesterday.

The killing of the Kiatisak took place at the time of the Thaksin Shinawatra government's controversial "War on drugs".

Last year, the Criminal Court handed down a suspended twoyear jail term to three police for opening fire on a drug suspect's vehicle, which lead to the death of his twoyearold son in February 2003.

Pol Senior Sergeant Major Pipat Saenin, Sergeant Major Panumas Chanakham, and Sgt Major Anusorn Taensuwan were convicted of recklessness during the sting operation and attempt to arrest the drug suspect. They were also ordered to pay a Bt10,000 fine each. The fatal shooting also took place during the 'War on drugs'.

-- The Nation 2012-07-31

[Buchholz]

As one might imagine with a decision like this in addition to the international media, there's lots of local press coverage.

http://www.dailynews...th/crime/146358

http://news.voicetv....land/46063.html

http://www.suthichai...om/detail/34913

http://www.girlszeed...‡à¸-17/

http://www.krobkruak...¸­à¸™.html

http://www.khaosod.c...9PQ==&subcatid=

http://www.mcot.net/...age/394781.html

etc.

Any links to the international media stories out there?

As anyone who can read learned in the OP, as per Admin, the link was not allowed.

Edited by sbk,

Yesterday, 20:39 .

AP not allowed

However, a simple Google search reveals the links.

If you need assistance with that, there's a section in Google Help that could be beneficial.

For some reason, five cops being convicted of felonies and three of them receiving the death penalty seems to be somewhat newsworthy both domestically and internationally.

.

Edited July 30, 2012 by Buchholz

[jerrysteve]

The wheels of Justice are slow...2004 to 2012. Lets hope it doesn't take another 8 years to Hang them.

Thaksin head should have a noose arournd his neck too. He is the one that gave the order.

[nurofiend]

And who was it,who arranged a 3 months purge on drug dealers (many unproven), and started it, with the infamous words"Bring them in Dead or Alive" ?

infamous words? are you sure you're not talking about him saying "We will take him dead or alive" while speaking about drug warlord Wei Xieu-kang?

i don't know if he said what you said but maybe you can show me a source?

[Valentine]

There is a senior policeman (maybe dismissed from the force now & his name is Chalor) who has been on death row for a long time after being found guilty of murdering the wife & son of the jeweller who bought the infamous Saudi diamonds http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1969920,00.html

[soundman]

And who was it,who arranged a 3 months purge on drug dealers (many unproven), and started it, with the infamous words"Bring them in Dead or Alive" ?

infamous words? are you sure you're not talking about him saying "We will take him dead or alive" while speaking about drug warlord Wei Xieu-kang?

i don't know if he said what you said but maybe you can show me a source?

Here is a translation of Thaksin's famous speech on the war on drugs. The kick-start to the campaign.

http://pioneer.netserv.chula.ac.th/~ppasuk/t2/thaksinspeechondrugwar14january2003.pdf

[coma]

IMO These guy's sentences will NOT be commuted to life. They will indeed be executed. If they don't die of old age in prison first.

[asiawatcher]

Let's all not waste time on speculation when there are cold beers in the cooler...

[phiphidon]

And who was it,who arranged a 3 months purge on drug dealers (many unproven), and started it, with the infamous words"Bring them in Dead or Alive" ?

infamous words? are you sure you're not talking about him saying "We will take him dead or alive" while speaking about drug warlord Wei Xieu-kang?

i don't know if he said what you said but maybe you can show me a source?

Here is a translation of Thaksin's famous speech on the war on drugs. The kick-start to the campaign.

http://pioneer.netse...january2003.pdf

Had a read all throught that. He does tend to repeat himself. However, found no reference whatsoever to those "infamous words "Bring them in Dead or Alive"

Anothe speech perhaps or another guy, MAJIC?

Edited July 31, 2012 by phiphidon

[Skywalker69]

Why are people grinning like cheshire cats?

Because they will get amnesty soon.

Payback and a promotion.

Most likely "inaktve posts"

[Buchholz]

And who was it,who arranged a 3 months purge on drug dealers (many unproven), and started it, with the infamous words"Bring them in Dead or Alive" ?

infamous words? are you sure you're not talking about him saying "We will take him dead or alive" while speaking about drug warlord Wei Xieu-kang?

i don't know if he said what you said but maybe you can show me a source?

Here is a translation of Thaksin's famous speech on the war on drugs. The kick-start to the campaign.

http://pioneer.netserv.chula.ac.th/~ppasuk/t2/thaksinspeechondrugwar14january2003.pdf

Thank you for posting.

There's a pallet load of quotes in that long speech.

.

[nurofiend]

And who was it,who arranged a 3 months purge on drug dealers (many unproven), and started it, with the infamous words"Bring them in Dead or Alive" ?

infamous words? are you sure you're not talking about him saying "We will take him dead or alive" while speaking about drug warlord Wei Xieu-kang?

i don't know if he said what you said but maybe you can show me a source?

Here is a translation of Thaksin's famous speech on the war on drugs. The kick-start to the campaign.

http://pioneer.netse...january2003.pdf

it's nothing i'd try to defend and clearly his tone and wording was very aggressive, i think the police obviously felt extreme pressure with him basically saying step up or it's your job.

and obviously police who were themselves involved would take people out who knew too much.

as i said i wouldn't defend his war on drugs and i think he's a scumbag for not calling a halt when things were clearly very ugly... so i can't be any clearer about my stance on it than that.

the only point of my post was just to see if he did actually say it or was the poster getting mixed up or misleading us.

[GeorgeO]

Police guilty of murdering youth, 17

The Criminal Court Monday handed down a guilty verdict to five former Kalasin-based policemen for their involvement in the extrajudicial killing of a 17-year-old boy in 2004.

Three of them were sentenced to death, another to life imprisonment, and the other to seven years in jail.

The death sentence was meted out against three police Senior Sergeant-Majors Angkarn Kammoonna, Sudtinan Noanting and Pansin Uppana. They are 48, 43, and 42 years old respectively. They were also found guilty of trying to cover up their crime.

Pol Lt Colonel Sumit Nansatit, who was serving as Deputy Superintendent of Muang Kalasin station at the time of the murder, was convicted of collaborating in the premeditated murder.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

His supervisor Pol Colonel Montri Sriboonleu, the former Superintendent of Muang Kalasin Police, was found guilty of trying to help his subordinates escape the reach of the law.

He was ordered to serve a seven-year jail term.

-- The Nation 2012-07-30

At last ... a message to the BiB that they are not beyond the reach of the law.

All that is required now is for the law to jail one group of jet-ski scammers, along with their BiB accomplices, and then maybe the message will filter down to all of them!

[JurgenG]

Anyway, people who were here will remember that the war on drug was very popular at that time and one can easily argue than Thaksin was merely bowing to popular demand.

Furthermore the war on drug is not a Thai invention and I never heard anybody blaming any american president for the collateral damage of the war on drug.

Edited July 31, 2012 by JurgenG

[Buchholz]

AFAIK, this is the first conviction of any note in the eight years since the Drug Wars occurred.

Congratulations to the victim's aunt and family and organizations like the HRLA who saw it through.

Hopefully, the successful prosecution will result in others coming forward and seek justice at last.

Perhaps the brave family members of Somjit might be next.

========================================================

Human Rights Watch

June 2004

Vol. 16, No. 8

Case Study: The killing of Somjit Khayandee

On February 20, 2003, Somjit Khayandee, a forty-two-year-old grocery shop owner, was shot dead in her shop-house at 212/1, Mu 8, Tambon Ban Laem, Petchburi Province.

A family member present when she was killed told Human Rights Watch: It was late in the afternoon. Somjit was busy with customers as usual when four men entered the shop. They were wearing black shirts and black pants. All of them had sunglasses and caps. Their hair outside the caps was quite short. They asked Somjit if she had beer and could open the bottles for them. Somjit took two bottles of beer from the refrigerator, opened them and handed the bottles to those men. It was then that one of the men shot her with a pistol. The first bullet hit her left hand, near her wrist. Somjit fell to the ground. That man jumped over her body and shot seven more rounds at her at point-blank range. The shooting took place in front of me, Somjit’s seven-months pregnant daughter, Somjit’s seven-year-old granddaughter and four other relatives. The four men then left the shop. They drove away in a red Mitsubishi pickup truck. But I could not see the plate number.

About half an hour later, local police arrived at the scene. They did not collect shells or any evidence. However, they said they were confident that it was ka tat ton [a “cut-off” killing, a term used by the government for most killings that took place during the war on drugs, allegedly committed by drug gangs to silence their members from reporting to the authorities]. They also said that Somjit’s name was on the blacklist and she had gone to report to them [the police] three days before she was killed. I did not know how her name was on the blacklist. When she went to report to the police, she said they gave her a document and told her to sign it as a testimony to assure that she did not have any involvement in drug dealing. They told her that they would remove her name from the blacklist. But Somjit was almost illiterate. She could barely read and write.

The witness told Human Rights Watch that he and others present at the killing were worried about their safety.

I do not think the police can protect us. The killing of Somjit had very bad effects on everyone, especially the little girl [somjit’s seven-year old granddaughter who saw the shooting]. She is very depressed and sad.

Somjit’s daughter was present at the scene, too. She told Human Rights Watch:

I was seven-months pregnant when Somjit was shot. I saw the shooting. It was very cruel. After my mother was killed, the police asked me to go to the district police station only once. They asked me if she was a drug dealer. I said my mother was a good person, she never sold drugs or knew anyone in that business. She also had no personal conflicts with anyone. That was the only time I was called in to talk to the police about my mother’s death. The police told me that they had received a tip-off about Somjit. They said a woman called them at night, around 10:00 p.m., on February 16, 2003 and told them that Somjit was a drug dealer and was hiding ya baa [methamphetamine] in her shop house. But the police never came to search our place. The next day Somjit was called by the police to go to the district police station to verify her name on the blacklist. Then my mother was killed three days later. On February 18, 2003, my neighbor was also killed. He was told to report to the police and verify his name on the blacklist as well. How could he be a drug dealer, he was very old and paralyzed? I do not understand. If the police believe that my mother was a drug dealer, they should have come and searched our shop house. But they never came until now. They did not seem to be interested in investigating and arresting people that killed my mother although they said she was killed by a drug gang. If the police know that a drug gang killed my mother, they should go and arrest those people. Our family is very poor. We should have been much better off if my mother was selling drugs as the police said. My mother was in debt, more than one hundred thousand baht. We still have to pay money back to banks, mortgage companies and loan sharks for her until today. If the police come to confiscate our belongings, we will have nothing left to survive.

The daughter was worried about having her possessions confiscated, because it was common during the war on drugs for those killed or arrested to have their money and properties confiscated in a broad interpretation of Thailand’s anti-money laundering law.

To date, no one has been arrested for the death of Somjit, and there is no sign that any serious investigation has ever been conducted.

=====================================================================

.

Edited July 31, 2012 by Buchholz

[Nickymaster]

I remember Chalerm saying a few months ago that there were NO extra judicial killings during Thaksin's war on drugs.

[Nickymaster]

I wonder if Mr T will ever be charged with extrajudicial killing...

Charged, maybe.

But powerfull and rich people NEVER have been convicted in this country.

Ok, convicted maybe but never served their punishment.

Edited July 31, 2012 by Nickymaster

[Reasonableman]

phiphidon, on Yesterday, 19:18 , said:

Buchholz, on Yesterday, 19:01 , said:

Thai police get death penalty in drug war killing

BANGKOK -- A court has sentenced three police officers to death for killing a teenager during a much-criticized drug crackdown by Thailand's government eight years ago. The officers were found guilty Monday of killing a 17-year-old student in Kalasin province in the northeast and moving his body to conceal the cause of death.

The killing took place under former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government, which declared a crackdown on the drug trade to stem an influx of methamphetamine. Rights activists allege it resulted in more than 2,000 extrajudicial killings.

The Criminal Court also sentenced a former deputy police district commander to life in prison for the boy's murder. The former district commander was given a seven-year jail term for abuse of authority. One police officer was acquitted.

Read more here:

http://www.kansascit...l#storylink=cpy

Associated Press

Obviously a quiet news day in the Kansas City Star. Seriously, why is an american paper interested in a thai drug death story from 8 years ago? And then I saw the AP tag - it was a slow news day in the Kansas City Star. I eagerly look forward to their take on the "transnational dog trader caught in Nakhon Phanom". Do post the link when you see it Buchholz............

"Balanced viewpoint", right. Apparently there is no problem when you try to bury the story completely...

[cdnvic]

Those of you trying to fight this battle by making numerous reports on the people you disagree with are asking for a long removal of posting rights. Serious reports only.

Also, if you even hint about a reference to any member of the Royal Family in this kind of topic it will not be treated lightly.

[Kananga]

This has made my day. Scum. I've been posting about this over various forums for a long time.

google ' strange fruit in kalasin " for the story

Having spent a lot of time in Issan

i am shocked and sad that there was such evil by those that were meant

to uphold the law in the provinces. How could the thought patterns

and personal values of 5 such senior officers have

deteriorated there to this extent ?

Perhaps i am naive but i genuinely believed that Issan and it people

were simple and honest.

I hope that is in a sarcastic note.

Well, maybe just the bit about being honest.

[Puwa]

I know a few people involved in investigating and helping to prosecute this case, going back to 2004-05. The reason this crime was brought to justice is that Thai human rights advocates worked closely with the family to help them withstand intimidation. And they worked as "shadow prosecutors" constantly prodding, monitoring, and demanding that the prosecutor's office and the courts tried the case without interference. Bad as the legal system can be, this case shows what can be accomplished with vigilance and determination. Sure, it's one victory against a very problematic system, but a significant one. I can't recall any other convictions of Thai police for this kind of abuse in the course of their duties. (Police have been convicted of murders undertaken outside of their official business). The folks who made this happen deserve our thanks and respect.

[MAJIC]

And who was it,who arranged a 3 months purge on drug dealers (many unproven), and started it, with the infamous words"Bring them in Dead or Alive" ?

infamous words? are you sure you're not talking about him saying "We will take him dead or alive" while speaking about drug warlord Wei Xieu-kang?

i don't know if he said what you said but maybe you can show me a source?

Here is a translation of Thaksin's famous speech on the war on drugs. The kick-start to the campaign.

http://pioneer.netse...january2003.pdf

Had a read all throught that. He does tend to repeat himself. However, found no reference whatsoever to those "infamous words "Bring them in Dead or Alive"

Anothe speech perhaps or another guy, MAJIC?

Sorry but I can't give a link on this,I clearly remember it in a certain Newspaper.

Of course its so long ago,that my memory may not be serving me well,or it may have been the Newspapers summary of his speech,which was quoted?

Edited July 31, 2012 by MAJIC

[Murgatroyd]

I'd be willing to bet that the death sentences are never carried out... they will be commuted when the fuss dies down. I'd be very surprised if any of the guilty police served more than a five year sentence, if that.

[MAJIC]

And who was it,who arranged a 3 months purge on drug dealers (many unproven), and started it, with the infamous words"Bring them in Dead or Alive" ?

infamous words? are you sure you're not talking about him saying "We will take him dead or alive" while speaking about drug warlord Wei Xieu-kang?

i don't know if he said what you said but maybe you can show me a source?

Here is a translation of Thaksin's famous speech on the war on drugs. The kick-start to the campaign.

http://pioneer.netse...january2003.pdf

Had a read all throught that. He does tend to repeat himself. However, found no reference whatsoever to those "infamous words "Bring them in Dead or Alive"

Anothe speech perhaps or another guy, MAJIC?

Please see my Post No 55.

[soundman]

Sorry but I can't give a link on this,I clearly remember it in a certain Newspaper.

Of course its so long ago,that my memory may not be serving me well,or it may have been the Newspapers summary of his speech,which was quoted?

I am going to lend you hand. I also remember a "Dead or Alive" quote by Thaksin from somewhere. After looking for it, this may be where it came from.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Well-take-Wei-dead-or-alive--Thaksin-53527.html

[MAJIC]

Sorry but I can't give a link on this,I clearly remember it in a certain Newspaper.

Of course its so long ago,that my memory may not be serving me well,or it may have been the Newspapers summary of his speech,which was quoted?

I am going to lend you hand. I also remember a "Dead or Alive" quote by Thaksin from somewhere. After looking for it, this may be where it came from.

http://www.nationmul...ksin-53527.html

Well thanks for that link,but in all honesty I don't recall the article was referring to Wei,but of course it was a long time ago,and ones memory can become clouded.

[rbrooks]

Why are most of them smiling?