Bangkok ignores court rulings
BANGKOK, July 6, 2004�Thai authorities have repatriated 16 Lao nationals toface trial at home for allegedly robbing a Lao border post in 2000, RadioFree Asia (RFA) reports. The move comes six months after a Thai appeal courtthrew out a Lao extradition request and ordered the men freed within 48hours.
All 16 men were removed from the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok onSunday, July 4, and taken under guard to Oubol in southern Thailand, Thaiand Lao officials told RFA�s Lao service. Saturday marked the fourthanniversary of the Vang Tao border post raid.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had deemed all 16 men"persons of concern," eligible to be considered for asylum and resettlementin a third country. On Dec. 30 last year, a Thai appeal court upheld alower-court ruling that the men shouldn�t be extradited and ordered themfreed within 48 hours. Why Thai authorities failed to release the menremains unclear.
Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy told RFA the men would besent to an undisclosed jail to await trial on charges of robbery. "These arenot ordinary people�they are criminals. Where else would we send them?" hesaid.
Laos, under communist rule since 1975, has asked Thailand repeatedly toextradite the 16 Lao and 11 Thai nationals accused of taking part in theraid. A seventeenth Lao suspect died in Thai custody.
A group of some 60 men seized the Vang Tao border post on July 4, 2000. Theyheld the post overnight�hoisting the old Lao national flag�until a deadlyfirefight with Lao troops drove them out and across the Thai border.
The raiders, according to local sources, demanded Lao political reformbefore they would free seven Lao hostages. After they were assured theirdemand was under consideration, they freed the hostages. Lao troops thenopened fire, killing six raiders and driving the rest into the jungle.
A Thai trial court in Oubol Province and an appellate court in Bangkokrejected Vientiane�s extradition requests on grounds that the raid precededany relevant treaty between the two governments and that eyewitness accountspresented by Laos were insufficiently compelling to implicate the Laosuspects.
But the men remained in Thai custody for illegal entry.
Bangkok-based political analyst Sunai Phasouk rejected the decision toextradite the men. "Of course Thailand wants to improve its relations withLaos� but morally this is wrong. These people might not get a fair andtransparent trial in Laos," he said. "Nobody is ever admitted to witness atrial like this."
According to the most recent State Department report on human rights aroundthe world, most Lao trials in 2003 were "little more than pro formaexaminations of the accused, with a verdict having already been reached.Most criminal trials reportedly ended in convictions. Defendants sometimeswere not permitted to testify on their own behalf. Trials for allegedviolations of some criminal laws relating to national security and trialsthat involved state secrets, children under the age of 16, or certain typesof family law were closed."
"In some instances, police administratively overruled court decisions, attimes detaining a defendant exonerated by the court, in violation of thelaw," the State Department report said. And while the Lao Constitution andPenal Code prohibit torture, "members of the security forces subjectedprisoners to torture and other abuses."
"Credible sources reported that detainees sometimes were subjected tobeatings, long-term solitary confinement in completely darkened rooms, andburning with cigarettes. In some cases, detainees were held in leg chains orwooden stocks. During the year, several persons arrested for religiousactivity or suspected insurgent activity were held in wooden stocks orshackles for part of their confinement."
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RFA broadcasts news and information to Asian listeners who lack regularaccess to full and balanced reporting in their domestic media. Through itsbroadcasts and call-in programs, RFA aims to fill a critical gap in thelives of people across Asia. Created by Congress in 1994 and incorporated in1996, RFA currently broadcasts in Burmese, Cantonese, Khmer, Korean, Lao,Mandarin, the Wu dialect, Vietnamese, Tibetan (Uke, Amdo, and Kham), andUyghur. It adheres to the highest standards of journalism and aims toexemplify accuracy, balance and fairness in its editorial content. For moreinformation on Radio Free Asia, visit www.rfa.org #####