Alleged kidnap victims wait a decade for justice
A southern Thai couple, who claim to be victims of a group of rogue policemen who kidnapped and tortured them over bogus drug charges more than 10 years ago, have lamented that they sold everything they owned to fight court battles yet are still waiting for justice.
Lawyer Chayutpong Premwichit-rungreung ,who represents Pradit Khongmak, 53, and his wife Wanpen, 51, accompanied them to the Trang Court to hear the Supreme Court verdict in a lawsuit against former Nakhon Si Thammarat-based border patrol policeman Pol Captain Nat Chonnitiwanich and two subordinates.
The three defendants were accused of abducting, torturing – by electric shocks to legs and genitals and by bag-over-head suffocation – and forcing the couple to confess to charges of having 20 yaba pills with intent to sell in January 2007, in alleged attempt to extort money from them.
As the Supreme Court verdict reading was postponed to November 20, the lawyer said the primary court had found Nat and two subordinates guilty, but the Appeals Court couldn’t reach a consensus so prosecutors pushed the case forward to the Supreme Court last April.
“If the final verdict found Nat and two defendants guilty, it would positively affect the couple’s civil lawsuit against the Royal Thai Police (RTP) in demand for Bt14.3 million compensation,” Chayutpong said.
The RTP had promised that if Nat and subordinates were ultimately found guilty, the agency would pay the requested compensation in full. “So my clients are waiting for the final verdict in hope. They sold all assets to fund their fight for justice.”
Wanpen said: “Throughout the past decade, we have had to sell our home, land plots and cars to fund our fight for justice. We also received threats, so we don’t dare to run our food-selling business here any more. People warned us that relatives of the accused policemen could become vindictive against us. We now live in fear. We want the final verdict to be out soon so we can get the compensation money to repay debts and rebuild our family,” she said.
The couple, who had moved from their restaurant business in Trang to a new life in Nakhon Si Thammarat, were acquitted from drug charges by both the primary and Appeals courts.
The couple revealed their ordeal after Nat and subordinates were arrested in January 2008 for allegedly kidnapping a Bangkok businesswoman and her two young sons in attempt to extort money.
The three were freed unharmed after she emptied her bank accounts of more than Bt8 million to pay them, but her ex-husband later reported the crime to police, leading to the officers’ arrests. The Office of Narcotics Control Board reopened drugs cases closed by Nat’s team.