Officials guilty of violent suppression ‘protected by culture of impunity’

Relatives of the victims of political violence committed by the state shared their experiences on Wednesday when they gathered to commemorate the October 6 student massacre at Thammasat University’s Tha Phrachan campus, where the shooting and lynching of protesters took place in 1976.

All agreed that the officials responsible should have been held accountable for the deadly crimes that they had committed.

The speakers at the panel discussion also agreed that everyone should be a voice and speak out about injustice to end a culture of impunity and prevent further violence by the state against the people.

Widow Lamead Boonmak, whose husband Jira Boonmak was killed in a student-led uprising on October 14, 1973, said that her family had never been officially informed of the details of his death.

She said that she wanted to seek the truth but was suppressed by fear of bringing more trouble to her family. Without her husband, Lamead had to take care of their infant baby on her own. As a young widow and a political enthusiast in 1976, Lamead said she wanted to sue the dictatorial rulers at the time, Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn and Field Marshal Prapass Charusathien.

“It’s because they should be held responsible for the murder of my husband. But I refrained when a colleague reminded me that the regime was so powerful, and I would just end up bringing more trouble to myself,” she said.

Lamead said she was relatively lucky because she was a professional nurse with a reliable monthly income. However, she said it could have been more difficult for many other relatives of the victims to lose the breadwinners of their families.

Another victim of political violence, Metha Maskhao shared similar experiences. His brother, Apiwat, was killed in the Black May incident in 1992, in which those responsible also have never been brought to justice. Metha became an activist calling not only for compensation to be paid to the relatives of those killed or missing as a result of the incident, but he also fought for laws and regulations to be implemented stop the culture of impunity.

Unlike Lamead, he took legal action against then prime minister General Suchinda Kraprayoon and related agencies deemed responsible for the bloodshed. But it did not yield any result because those people had immunity through special laws such as martial law or an emergency decree that granted them amnesty.

Thus, Metha tried to create a norm to prevent future impunity. He tried to push for the construction of memorials so that people would not forget what had happened to the victims of violence carried out by the state. This way, he said, could put pressure on the powers that be to bring the culprits to justice.

Aside from physical violence that caused death or injury to many people, violence by the state against the people could also include the use of arbitrary powers especially in the justice system.

Romuelah Saeyeh told the story of her husband Anwar Ismail Hajiteh, who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for alleged involvement with separatists in the deep South.

She said the incident took place in 2004 at the very beginning of a crackdown on separatists in the Southern border region. 

A court found Anwar guilty based on the grounds that he had discussed the history of Pattani in a local tea shop, Romuelah said, adding that he is still in prison. Romuelah insisted that her husband was innocent. She is still fighting for justice for him.

The imposition of special laws such as an emergency decree and martial law have had wide-ranging impacts, including in 2010 when nearly 100 demonstrators were killed. 

One high-profile case was that of Kamolkade Akahad, a volunteer nurse who was killed in Bangkok’s Pathum Wanaram Temple during the political unrest.

Her mother Payao Akahad said although a court ruled that her daughter had been hit by military bullets, no one had been punished because they were protected under the emergency decree in place at the time. 

She said she would sue the officials responsible for her daughter’s death but would wait until the current regime steps down, adding that it was the only way to ensure the lawsuit would not be voided.

Poonsuk Poonsukcharoen, a lawyer from the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) who is assisting defendants accused of political wrongdoing by the current regime, said a lack of transparency still persisted. She said in addition to providing legal services for political defendants, the TLHR also published information about arbitrary actions by the state to raise awareness.

When state authorities are protected by the law and not punished for their crimes, it is important that people do not remain silent, she said.