Disappearance of Karen activist: Thai senior park official faces probe

[webfact]

DISAPPEARANCE
Senior park official faces probe
Suriyan Panyawai,
Kampanart Khantrakool
The Nation



Kaeng krachan national park chief to be moved if investigators find him guilty

BANGKOK: -- A NATIONAL PARK CHIEF, whose name has been linked to the recent disappearance of a prominent Karen activist, is now facing investigation by his supervising agency.

"I have already set up a fact-finding committee to look into the issue," Nipon Chotibal said yesterday as the acting director general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP).

Nipon said he had given the committee 15 days to conclude the probe.

Por Cha Lee Rakchongcharoen, also known as "Billy", has been missing since April 17.

Kaeng Krachan National Park chief Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn, who was known to have had conflicts with Billy, was seen with the activist in Phetchaburi before the latter disappeared.

According to Nipon, Chaiwat insisted that he met Billy last Thursday only to ask him about the wild-bee honey he had in his possession.

"Chaiwat said that Billy was allowed to return home after the questioning. He has university-student trainees as witnesses," Nipon said, adding that Chaiwat would be transferred if found guilty.

However, several organisations believe that Chaiwat should be transferred first to facilitate a fair and transparent investigation.

Police are also looking into Billy's disappearance.

"If the investigation does not progress in a reasonable manner, we will petition to the United Nations Human Rights Council," said a joint statement released by the Karen Network for Culture and Environment, the Network of Indigenous Peoples in Thailand and allied non-governmental organisations.

They suspect that Billy's role in filing a lawsuit against Chaiwat and the DNP may have something to do with his disappearance. Three years ago, officials set fire to the homes of Karen villagers living in the Kaeng Krachan National Park, and Billy helped the villagers take their case to the Administrative Court.

Billy is scheduled to testify in court on May 19.

Appeal to Yingluck

Representatives of the Karen peoples' networks and other organisations yesterday handed a letter addressed to caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to the Chiang Mai governor, in which they demanded that Billy be located as soon as possible and the culprits be brought to justice. They also asked for Billy's family to be provided with protection.

Phetchaburi police chief Maj-General Phirachart Ruenrerng said he had assigned his deputy Colonel Surasak Suksawaeng to lead an investigation into the case.

"We are scouring target areas in the Kaeng Krachan district in a bid to locate him," he said.

Maj-General Pairoj Thongma-eng, chief of the 9th Infantry Division, said he had ordered a special taskforce to patrol Kaeng Krachan National Park's areas to facilitate the search for Billy.


-- The Nation 2014-04-23

[NongKhaiKid]

The Acting Director General of the DNP has set up a fact finding committee but just a thought, isn't the disappearance of someone in suspicious circumstances a police matter ?

Why set up a committee presumably composed of people who have no investigative experience when the official BIB are there to do the job just as badly and come up with the desired finding ?

[slapout]

The old committee route, again. Next we will see a standing committee appointed, to select committees as needed/requested to investigate, negotiate, mediate, procastinate, fornicate, or any other time comsuming, non proforming duty assigned.

I used to exprct a '' in a little while '' when I assigned/asked for info, review, etc. Here it seems the standard response is, ''we, you, or I will form a committee'',

Now I can think of few things less effecient than a incompentent indivdual, other than a committee of same, stumbling around the jungle trying to locate a missing person.

[Lupatria]

I'm waiting for the headline:

"Human rights activist killed by tree huggers"

[chainarong]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

The Acting Director General of the DNP has set up a fact finding committee but just a thought, isn't the disappearance of someone in suspicious circumstances a police matter ?

Why set up a committee presumably composed of people who have no investigative experience when the official BIB are there to do the job just as badly and come up with the desired finding ?

It is a police matter however Billy is Karen ,another disappeared, poof, just like that , enough said

[NongKhaiKid]

The old committee route, again. Next we will see a standing committee appointed, to select committees as needed/requested to investigate, negotiate, mediate, procastinate, fornicate, or any other time comsuming, non proforming duty assigned.

I used to exprct a '' in a little while '' when I assigned/asked for info, review, etc. Here it seems the standard response is, ''we, you, or I will form a committee'',

Now I can think of few things less effecient than a incompentent indivdual, other than a committee of same, stumbling around the jungle trying to locate a missing person.

A committee is - ' a group of people who individually can decide nothing and who together can only decide nothing can be done '.

[issanaus]

The Acting Director General of the DNP has set up a fact finding committee but just a thought, isn't the disappearance of someone in suspicious circumstances a police matter ?

Why set up a committee presumably composed of people who have no investigative experience when the official BIB are there to do the job just as badly and come up with the desired finding ?

The is the issue of the disappearance (and probable harm to) which is a BIB matter.

There is the associate matters of the parks manager that are the subject of the intended court matter, illegal activity in the park as well a the parks officials role in the detention ... fact finding committee matter

Not sure which investigation I should be more depressed about.

[NongKhaiKid]

The Acting Director General of the DNP has set up a fact finding committee but just a thought, isn't the disappearance of someone in suspicious circumstances a police matter ?

Why set up a committee presumably composed of people who have no investigative experience when the official BIB are there to do the job just as badly and come up with the desired finding ?

The is the issue of the disappearance (and probable harm to) which is a BIB matter.

There is the associate matters of the parks manager that are the subject of the intended court matter, illegal activity in the park as well a the parks officials role in the detention ... fact finding committee matter

Not sure which investigation I should be more depressed about.

Maybe you can hold off being REALLY depressed until the fact finding committee comes up with the pre-determined finding that the parks official is in no way implicated.

[klauskunkel]

Chaiwat would be transferred if found guilty

...presumably to another park? That will show him!

Edited April 23, 2014 by klauskunkel

[WoopyDoo]

Look....

Most of us have been here long enough to know that Billy is no more, and met his fate at the hands of the exact people that you already have in your mind...

We also all know that in a month, this will be yesterday's news and the culprits will get away with it.

This is just one of hundreds of cases that have gone the exact same way and everyone knows what happened and who was responsible.

But this is Thailand.

No justice anywhere.

[issanaus]

Maybe they should add the shooting murder of another activist in 2011 in the same park to the inquiry.

[BillyBobThai]

Thai government officials must have received training from the Vatican on the proper way to move people around to protect their own.

[soalbundy]

Maybe one reason Thais show so little initiative,lift your head up too high to do something positive and it gets cut off