Phra Yantra Amaro quietly returns to Thailand

[Lite Beer]

Phra Yantra Amaro quietly returns to Thailand

BANGKOK: -- A former well-known charismatic monk Phra Yantra Amaro has quietly returned from asylum in the United States to his home province of Pak Phanang district of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The former monk who was defrocked and later fled to the United States twenty years ago after facing rape charge of a 14-year-old girl.

Residents in Pak Phanang said the former monk who still clad in green robe and wearing beard was back to his home district at Ban Bang Bo during the Songkran festival.

Upon learning of his arrival, his former devoted followers kept on coming to the village asking to see the former Buddhist Bhikku but all were disappointed when they were told by Phra Yantra’s relatives that he had left to other places.

Media representatives also came asking to see him but they were scolded and cursed by some angry relatives.

Pak Phanang mayor Pitches Klasukon told reporters that he has met Phra Yantra and was told that he would travel to stay at Khanom today and to Phuket tomorrow to see a dentist.

He said Phra Yantra is not physically strong after a car accident in the United States.

Allegations against Phra Yantra had been a very sensitive issue twenty years ago as he has a lot of devoted followers.

Besides, the charismatic Buddhist monk had earlier been found innocent
of all charges by a special committee appointed by a former education minister

Hailed from Pak Phanang, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phra Yantra has been in the monkhood for over twenty years ever since his brief experience in hotel
management following his graduation from Bangkok Technical College in
early 1970′s.

Phra Yantra had made a name for himself as an eloquent and profound
preacher of Buddhism, whose devotees were increasing by leaps and bounds
over the past two decades.

He was also very popular with women follower who find him good-looking and friendly.
Although he spent a great deal of his time preaching across the country
and going abroad on religious missions, Phra Yantra officially presided over the Sunyataram Buddhist Centre in Kanchanaburi.

For some two decades, Phra Yantra’s so-called unorthodox Buddhist
practices have gone smoothly and unchallenged.

Then from nowhere came serious allegations brought against him by former devotees and followers.

Phra Yantra sought political asylum in the United States to escape the allegations since 1995 and was granted asylum in 1997.

In the case he petitioned to the California court in seeking asylum reasoning he was persecuted rather than prosecution , the US judge decided that the Government of Thailand had violated well-established international law when, in 1995, it charged Phra Yantra with “defaming unnamed government officials and the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand” in a speech Phra Yantra gave in a temple in Bangkok on March 15, 1995.

The Judge concluded that the speech did not insult anyone, and even if it had, bringing a criminal charge based on the speech violated Phra Yantra’s right to freedom of expression, a right recognized in both the Thai Constitution and in international law.
The Judge observed that the
Thai Government was attempting to silence Phra Yantra and strip him
of his monkhood because of his wide popularity in Thailand and his message
against corruption, bribery, and the drug and sex trades.

The Judge took note that even after Phra Ajahn Yantra fled Thailand in fear for his life in July 1995, the Thai government tried to work in collaboration with the United States Government to hunt Phra Yantra down and forcibly return him to Thailand. The United States Government told the Thai government to keep this effort “secret” so that “human rights organizations do not become involved” which could make matters more difficult for the Thai government.

In secret communications to the United States Government, copies of which
Phra Yantra’s lawyer was able to obtain through the United States
courts, the Thai Government made very clear that it intended to imprison
Phra Yantra without bail if he was returned to Thailand.

The Thai government offered to send police to the United States to take custody of Phra Yantra and escort him back to Thailand.

The United State government wrote in one document that the Thai Government was “insisting” that Phra Yantra be returned to Thailand where he would be jailed, even without consideration of legal procedures set out in the US-Thai extradition treaty.

The Judge also quoted from United States documents which report that in 1996 prisoners in Thai jails were beaten, tortured to obtain confessions, and some were killed.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/phra-yantra-amaro-quietly-returns-thailand/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=phra-yantra-amaro-quietly-returns-thailand

-- Thai PBS 2014-04-23

[bigbamboo]

Looks like yet another American hippy turned computer guru.

[clockman]

Amazing Thailand.

[Thai at Heart]

TIT

[Bluespunk]

"Besides, the charismatic Buddhist monk had earlier been found innocent

of all charges by a special committee appointed by a former education minister"

I'm sorry but what? He was cleared of rape by an education minister's committee? What about the courts, do they not get a say?

[h90]

"Besides, the charismatic Buddhist monk had earlier been found innocent

of all charges by a special committee appointed by a former education minister"

I'm sorry but what? He was cleared of rape by an education minister's committee? What about the courts, do they not get a say?

This is also weird "Thai Government was attempting to silence Phra Yantra and strip him of his monkhood because of his wide popularity in Thailand and his message against corruption, bribery, and the drug and sex trades."

[RubbaJohnny]

Wonder if TAT can keep convincing folks to pay to visit a sewer,Thailand hub of impunity for rapists?

[toybits]

This guy has no shame...

[WhizBang]

Nothing out of the ordinary.. For Thailand.

[tomyummer]

So did he travel under a different name where the authorities couldn't catch him at the immigration gate? This Thailand fishing net is so easy to slip in and out of.

[Changoverandout]

What happened to the 'high-flying' monk with a liking for gold and Armani shades?

Very quiet for ages???

edit to add; I think he was also being investigated for child rape

Edited April 23, 2014 by Changoverandout

[angsta]

I'm sorry but what? He was cleared of rape by an education minister's committee? What about the courts, do they not get a say?

They are only for red Prime Ministers and to help rich kids and unelected politicians get away with murder. You do read the Bangkok Post??

[jayjayjayjay]

Yanta bet!

[hgma]

disgusting.

Why mentioning?

[rhythmworx]

No mention where the other monk Bhikku actually went.

Went to other places as the family said, no search for him.

[Somtamnication]

I thought Gerry Garcia died years ago!

[JoeThePoster]

He was also very popular with women follower who find him good-looking and friendly.

Alright, definitely prime ministerial material here.

[ezzra]

What happened to the 'high-flying' monk with a liking for gold and Armani shades?

Very quiet for ages???

edit to add; I think he was also being investigated for child rape

It would probably be in their best interest for all those rouge monks to form some sort

of a club where they can meet on a regular bases and exchange ideas and method operandi....

[sweatalot]

Wonder if TAT can keep convincing folks to pay to visit a sewer,Thailand hub of impunity for rapists?

so you found him guilty?

evidence?

think before post !

[sweatalot]

"Thai Government was attempting to silence Phra Yantra and strip him of his monkhood because of his wide popularity in Thailand and his message against corruption, bribery, and the drug and sex trades."

may be his return is a good omen in the present political situation?

[Bkungbank]

He don't look like monk as he didn't shave hair, beard and eye brown as require by monk to clean, he looks more like Bahram monk Indian monk more then BUddhist monk.

[issanaus]

What happened to the 'high-flying' monk with a liking for gold and Armani shades?

Very quiet for ages???

edit to add; I think he was also being investigated for child rape

It would probably be in their best interest for all those rouge monks to form some sort

of a club where they can meet on a regular bases and exchange ideas and method operandi....

That's almost funny because the "high flying monk" also went to the USA for sanctuary

[Frank James]

The more one hears about what some of these charlatan monks get away with, the case becomes stronger for 100% complete separation of Church and State.

[Pimay1]

This is an article from The Independent in the UK back in 1995 chronicling the events during the rise and fall of Yantra Amaro. This guy was really something. Below are a couple of excerpts from the article. If this post gets deleted pm me for the link if you want.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/all-kinds-of-m-onky-business-1581567.html

One MP admitted to drinking Yantra's urine for its curative powers. At public preaching engagements, Yantra, ever the humble monk, would alight barefoot from a silver Mercedes-Benz.

When a popular radio phone-in programme managed to arrange an on-air confrontation between Yantra and Chantima, his former mistress, the army, which controls the radio station in question, ordered the show terminated in mid-quarrel, on the grounds that it was making too many high-ranking people "unhappy".

[GuestHouse]

He's perhaps come back to visit his children.

Or maybe to settle his credit card bill for 'prostitution services' he paid for with by Credit Card while in Australia.

[GuestHouse]

"Besides, the charismatic Buddhist monk had earlier been found innocent

of all charges by a special committee appointed by a former education minister"

I'm sorry but what? He was cleared of rape by an education minister's committee? What about the courts, do they not get a say?

This is also weird "Thai Government was attempting to silence Phra Yantra and strip him of his monkhood because of his wide popularity in Thailand and his message against corruption, bribery, and the drug and sex trades."

Phra Yantra a user of prostitution against the sex trade.... Surely a joke?!

[Thaddeus]

Doesn't sound like his quiet return was quite as quiet as he would have liked.

[GunterChiangMai]

Hare Rama!!!!

He and his Holynesssss Luang The Poop Bhodisattwa Issara will heal the country....

Hallelujah!!

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[khaowong1]

here's a photo of him when he lived in Thailand as a monk...

[GunterChiangMai]

Did his nocturnal visits bear fruit?

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand