Wanchalearm’s family demand answers from Cambodia, 4 months after activist’s disappearance
Four months after Thai activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit was abducted from a street in Phnom Penh, Cambodian authorities have made no progress investigating the case, Amnesty International announced on Monday.
His family are desperate for news about his fate and whereabouts, said the rights group. They still long to know the truth about his disappearance and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
“We urge Cambodia to set up an investigation team to carry out a prompt, effective, thorough and transparent investigation and to ensure justice is served for the victim and his family,” Piyanut Kotsan, director of Amnesty International Thailand, said. “Four months on, there is still no progress in the investigation.”
Piyanut also urged Thai authorities to provide assistance to enable Wanchalearm’s older sister, Sitanan Satsaksit, to travel to Cambodia to give evidence to public prosecutors there. Cambodia has suspended tourist visas as part of Covid-19 containment measures.
“If Cambodian authorities do not issue an official invitation to Wanchalearm’s sister, she will not be able to travel there to give her information concerning the case, even though she has already appointed a local lawyer to act on the family’s behalf,” said Piyanut.
Wanchalearm is among at least nine government critics to have disappeared abroad since Prayut Chan-o-cha came to power in a military coup in 2014. Two of those activists later turned up dead in the Mekong River on the Laos border, their bellies disembowelled and stuffed with concrete.
