Extradition to Australia

Sarat or Surat Sihaveerachart, 28, Tatiya Terdphutham, 26, and their friend are accused of fatally stabbing Luke Mitchell, an Australian, in Victoria State on May 24, 2009. They left Australia after the alleged crime.
According to the court’s order, Sarat and Tatiya, who were arrested in Thailand, must be extradited 30-90 days after the ruling or else they will be released.
Sarat’s attorney said he would appeal the verdict.
“We will request that the trial takes place in Thailand,” he said, citing racist cases and physical assaults against Thais in Australia.
Sarat’s mother insisted that he did nothing wrong.
“My son didn’t carry the knife that night. He just went out with two other friends for some drinks,” she said.
Sarat was studying in Australia, she said. He believed in his innocence and wanted to continue his studies there but she demanded that he fly back immediately.
“I was scared. His friend said my son was stabbed in the arm too,” she said.
The Australian government cited the 1916 extradition treaty between Thailand and the UK to request the return of the two men to Australia.
The defence lawyers fought the extradition request on grounds that Thailand has no extradition treaty with Australia and Australia is not part of the UK, so it could not cite the Thai-UK treaty.
The court ruled that although Thailand and Australia had no extradition treaty, Australia used to be a part of the UK, so the Thai-UK treaty could be applied.
The court noted that the Australian government also promised to send suspects to Thailand in exchange, so the two countries did not need to have a formal extradition agreement.