Amnesty wants case reopened
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AMNESTY International has called on the authorities to reopen investigation into the killing of environmental activist Charoen Wat-aksorn after the Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of three suspects.
The international human rights organisation said the 37-year-old pineapple farmer had successfully mass mobilised local communities to stop the construction of the Bo Nok and Hin Krud coal-fired power plant projects in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. He was shot as he got off a bus at the Bo Nok bus station in Muang district on June 21, 2004.
He had just returned from testifying before a parliamentary anti-corruption panel in Bangkok, and had earlier registered complaints about official collusion in the illegal transfer of public land in Bo Nok.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court dismissed charges against three members of the Hinkaew family – Thanu, Manote and Juea Hinkaew – saying evidence against them was too weak to convict them of involvement in the contract killing.
The court upheld the earlier Appeals Court ruling.
Saneh Lekluan and Prachuab Hinkaew, who had told police they were hired to carry out the murder, had died by the time the trial began.
Saneh died in custody in March, 2006, and Prachuab died in custody the following July, before they were able to testify in court.
Amnesty International said Thai-land was obliged under international human rights law to respect and protect the right to life and to take measures to redress violations.
“The failure of the authorities to provide redress for Charoen and his family is a tragic development in a long battle for justice for him and other human rights defenders in Thailand, and also perpetuates the prevailing pattern of impunity for the continuing killings, attacks and harassment of human rights defenders,” Amnesty International said.
The rights group renewed its call for the authorities to take measures to protect all human rights defenders from attack and ensure that those responsible for crimes against them are brought to justice.
