Prayut rules suspects will not be paraded at press conferences

[webfact]

Prayut rules suspects will not be paraded at press conferences

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Friday ordered that suspects will not be presented and allowed to speak at press conferences.

 

If they wanted to speak, they could do it in court, the premier said.

 

“Presenting suspects in a press conference must not be done. Photos (of them) are enough,” he said at an anti-drug event.

 

“I understand that the media wishes to get information and news, but sometimes it has negative results,” he said.

 

His order came a few days after police presented suspects in high-profile cases at press conferences.

 

One of the controversial suspects was Wattana Pummares, who is accused of planting bombs in Bangkok.

 

He said his acts were done out of frustration over the coup and the coup leaders taking positions in government.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30318885

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-23

[rkidlad]

Been said before. Nothing changed. The police are too full of themselves that they can't resist the attention. Like telling children to stop showing off. 

[Dobredin Ghusputin]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Photos (of them) are enough

 

Good point.

[idman]

Stop these photo ops for the corrupt coppers in Thailand??? The General Premier has lost the plot I'm afraid. How else are clowns suppose to impress their peers and those they lean on for extra nosh???

Sent from my SM-T805 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Stradavarius37]

Bravo to the General for this - its much needed. 

[colinneil]

Mr PM if you enforce that rule, what about the police chiefs and their photo ops?

There is 1 very senior police chief who pops up all over the place, just to get his photo taken.

Due to defamation laws i cannot divulge his name.

[candide]

Actually his concern is not that the rights of suspects may be infringed. He is afraid suspects may talk too much and criticise the Junta, as happened in this case. 

[rkidlad]

20 minutes ago, Stradavarius37 said:

Bravo to the General for this - its much needed. 

Well, you know what they say, "Second time lucky!"

Edited June 23, 2017 by rkidlad

[darksidedog]

Not before time. Working in the legal sector as I do, I have seen thousands of people paraded at news conferences and their photo and the allegation broadcast worldwide. A large percentage are subsequently cleared, but the damage to their reputation has been done. Especially since the cops normally embellish the story, so as to make a suspect sound guilty. Blurring faces was  a start, and while I understand the police will no longer be able to preen in front of the cameras, maybe they can use the spare time, to actually do some police work.

[Cadbury]

10 minutes ago, candide said:

Actually his concern is not that the rights of suspects may be infringed. He is afraid suspects may talk too much and criticise the Junta, as happened in this case. 

I think you are right.

So suspects  are now not allowed to be seen or heard even though they might be innocent. 

Subtle censorship created by an increasingly paranoid PM.

[mtls2005]

One would think that in a country of laws this sort of thing would be covered, and not need the great leader to make decrees all the time?

 

It is interesting that this bomber seems to be being accorded above average treatment: no handcuffs, one-on-one with the national police chief.

 

I assume they're trying to convince him to implicate certain "parties", even though he has said countless times he was acting alone.

 

 

[the guest]

Is there any true justice in Thailand, when parading a potential suspect in public will certainly taint any hope of getting a fair trial. This approach is rather outdated, and the country should uphold the belief that you are innocent until proven guilty. The medieval days have gone, time to join the 21st century Thailand!

[dcsw53]

That will halve the posts on Thai Visa then !

[JAG]

3 minutes ago, the guest said:

Is there any true justice in Thailand, when parading a potential suspect in public will certainly taint any hope of getting a fair trial. This approach is rather outdated, and the country should uphold the belief that you are innocent until proven guilty. The medieval days have gone, time to join the 21st century Thailand!

The current regime seems rather keen on some aspects of what could be described as medieval practises

 

30 minutes ago, candide said:

Actually his concern is not that the rights of suspects may be infringed. He is afraid suspects may talk too much and criticise the Junta, as happened in this case. 

One of the possible downsides of this is that if the suspects do not have to appear in public some of the more "enthusiastic" questioning techniques may be employed without having to worry too much about leaving telltale signs...

[WhizBang]

Interesting that Prayut gets upset with the parading of suspects (and re-enactments???), when the suspect (Wattana) is very anti junta and is complaining that the military are appointing themselves to all the juicy posts.

 

 

[scorecard]

56 minutes ago, Stradavarius37 said:

Bravo to the General for this - its much needed. 

 

Agree, but IMHO it should go further with policy that one police spokesperson (alone) talks to the media and answers questions from the media. And no other police or officials from any agency allowed to be present or in the room, and not gathered outside for photo ops, etc., unless there is a rare / critical need for one extra person to explain something very complex and in reality this detail could probably wait for a scheduled full court hearing.

Edited June 23, 2017 by scorecard

[webfact]

No more press conferences for suspects : national police chief
By The Nation

 

Wattana talks with Chakthip during a press conference.

 

BANGKOK: -- The national police chief has banned the presentation of criminal suspects at press conferences and they will no longer be allowed to talk to the press.

 

Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda on Thursday also ordered that officers dealing with suspects being detained in custody should not behave in any way that might suggest they are friendly with them.

 

Such behaviour risks sending the wrong signals and could hamper police in their duties, Chaktip said, citing recent instances that negatively affected the image of police.

 

Police are ordered to forbid anyone from taking photos and videos of them with suspects other than during the collection of evidence.

 

The orders apply to all ranks, and any officers violating the directive face administrative and disciplinary punishment.

 

The orders come days after Wattana Pummares, 61, was presented at a press conference charged with planting bombs in Bangkok in 2007 and 2017. 

 

Chakthip and other senior officers involved in the investigation were present as Wattana was given a microphone to answer reporters’ questions.

 

The suspect used the opportunity to condemn the military coup and the coup leaders who took up positions in government, and said his actions were intended to convey public frustration to the government.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30318892

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-23

[Eric Loh]

8 minutes ago, JAG said:

One of the possible downsides of this is that if the suspects do not have to appear in public some of the more "enthusiastic" questioning techniques may be employed without having to worry too much about leaving telltale signs...

More so during this rather opague and non accountability junta time. At least we get to see if the suspects are in good health and not tortured. At worse we see them physically in this time of disappearing suspects.  

[canuckamuck]

All was fine until they had an anti junta guy speak his mind. That's not going to happen again.

[chrisinth]

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

Mr PM if you enforce that rule, what about the police chiefs and their photo ops?

There is 1 very senior police chief who pops up all over the place, just to get his photo taken.

Due to defamation laws i cannot divulge his name.

It may not be the ones you are on about Colin, but there are a few high rankers going to present themselves to the bench soon for the pedo scandal that is ongoing.

 

So perhaps this has been instructed for other reasons than criminals giving their opinions to the media. Wouldn't help the Thai image in international media displaying government officials and police officers accused of underage sex would it?

 

Speculation of course, but lets look outside the box.

[sweatalot]

Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda on Thursday also ordered that officers dealing with suspects being detained in custody should not behave in any way that might suggest they are friendly with them.

 

But if they behave in a way that shows that they are mistreating  them that's ok?

Edited June 23, 2017 by sweatalot

[yougivemebaby]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Not before time. Working in the legal sector as I do, I have seen thousands of people paraded at news conferences and their photo and the allegation broadcast worldwide. A large percentage are subsequently cleared, but the damage to their reputation has been done. Especially since the cops normally embellish the story, so as to make a suspect sound guilty. Blurring faces was  a start, and while I understand the police will no longer be able to preen in front of the cameras, maybe they can use the spare time, to actually do some police work.

Isn't there some type of defamation happening ? Suitable for a lawsuit ? It's absolutely against basic human rights. 

[longtom]

He said the same recently about the reenactments, didn't stop them did it?

[wirat69]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Working in the legal sector as I do,

So you will be actively working for the Government to legislate recognition of Human Rights???

[klauskunkel]

Quote

Prayut rules suspects will not be paraded at press conferences

They ignored your order the first time, this second time they will just forget it, and the future third time the police will misunderstand it...

But hey, you're the one who wanted to rule everybody.

[jaywalker]

[JAG]

Thanks for reminding me - one of the funniest photo ops ever!

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

One would think that in a country of laws this sort of thing would be covered, and not need the great leader to make decrees all the time?

 

It is interesting that this bomber seems to be being accorded above average treatment: no handcuffs, one-on-one with the national police chief.

 

I assume they're trying to convince him to implicate certain "parties", even though he has said countless times he was acting alone.

 

 

 

Actually the general is pushing strongly for the law on this subject, which has existed for years, to be followed.

 

In reality the RTP and the media have been breaking the law and it's been pointed out many times, the RTP and the media back off for a week then back to full parading again.

 

I hope this time they follow his orders.

[Becker]

10 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

Actually the general is pushing strongly for the law on this subject, which has existed for years, to be followed.

 

In reality the RTP and the media have been breaking the law and it's been pointed out many times, the RTP and the media back off for a week then back to full parading again.

 

I hope this time they follow his orders.

Thanks for clarifying what the junta leader is trying to do. It's comforting to know we have a member with a strong connection to the cantankerous one. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the suspect in question slamming the junta.......nothing at all!

 

But seriously, blaming the press for attending press conferences arranged by the RTP?? I guess you must be a Trump supporter.

[Gandtee]

If my memory serves me right, a few months ago our good leader ordered the police to cease re enactments. That went up like a lead balloon