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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Was the Tak Bai verdict wrong?

Bangkok Pundit:


BP: Umm, Tak Bai happened in October 2004 and the Emergency Decree didn't come into force until July 2005 so how were they acting under the Emergency Decree? Hopefully, there will be some legal analysis of the decision, at least in the Thai language media, and will try to provide more about it next week.


I checked.

Bangkok Pundit is right.

Section 17, the liability section cited in the verdict, was part of the 2005 Emergency Decree.

So far, The Nation and Bangkok Post are covering up for the court.

Looks like Thaksin was right. The courts are compromised and don't adjudicate according to the law.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Indeed. It is bad news for Thais though it pretty much confirms that the prevalent Western view of Thais, and Thai courts in particular is correct.

There are only 2 possible conclusions from this. If they don't know they got the facts wrong they are incompetent. If they do know they got the facts wrong they are corrupt. Take your pick.

Either way it is not good for Thailand.

Rich

Unknown said...

In August 2003, Thaksin promulgated an "executive decree" on anti-terrorism. The decree seriously curtailed public freedoms and provided the police and armed forces with expanded powers to arrest and detain without charge. Thai Post 17 August 2003. We need to make sure it is not this decree that is providing the cover, where has it been reported that it is the 2005 decree? The Nation does report that it was the "Emergency Decree" but can we rely on their accuracy?

Kris Koles said...

Forget all the legal jargon. In Thailand the army does whatever it wants to do and even in the case of suspected murder, the police have no right to actually question a military suspect, much less enter a military base and arrest a person in the uniform of the Thai military. I understand a while ago some "off-duty" soldiers fired hundreds of rounds into a well-known person's van and that the police are still awaiting permission to question the suspects. No one will ever be arrested. No one will ever be put on trial. But that's OK as the well-known person has made a public statement "forgiving" his attackers and, as the attempted murder is something that "happened in the past and is no longer continuing", there is no need for a trial in any case, sort of like the Government House occupation and vandalizing by the PAD, or the Airport occupation/shut down. When having any ongoing discussion about Thailand, it is always important to remember the discussion is about "Thailand"....