MISSING LAWYER

Thaksin aide link to kidnap of Somchai

Person close to former PM phoned key policeman on night of abduction: Sonthi

Army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin yesterday linked prominent Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelaphai-jit's disappearance to people close to ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The dramatic revelation sparked new hope that the missing lawyer's family might finally see justice.

"I have received information from investigators that some individuals close to former prime minister Thaksin were behind the disappearance of Somchai," Sonthi told reporters yesterday.

The junta chief, who led a coup to topple Thaksin six weeks ago, declined to give further details or identify any of the individuals allegedly involved.

Somchai's wife Angkhana Neelaphaijit said the information might be the same as what she had known for a long time. It indicated that a person from the Prime Minister's Office made several phone calls to one of five police allegedly involved in the abduction of her husband on March 12, 2004, she said.

Police Lt-Colonel Chatchai Liumsanguan, Police Lt-Col Sinchai Nimpunyakhamphong, Sergeant Chaiyaweng Phaduang, Corporal Randorn Sithikhet and Pol Major Ngern Thongsuk were charged with illegal detention in connection with Somchai's disappearance.

But only Pol Major Ngern, of the Crime Suppression Bureau, was jailed - for three years - after a trial. Three of seven eyewitnesses who testified in court said they had seen Ngern forcibly push Somchai into a car.

Investigators have reportedly never found any evidence or information to link the five police with any other individuals believed to have close connections to Thaksin, Angkhana said.

"I don't know why officials have sat on the information for so long time and never brought it to the court to pin down any suspects," Angkhana said in a phone interview.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) was instructed last year to carry on with the case to bring more wrongdoers to justice.

But the department had made little progress, until Sonthi instructed embattled DSI chief Pol Gen Sombat Amornwiwat to speed up the probe and report on its latest findings.

DSI investigators admitted they had found no solid evidence to make a clear case or take any other suspects into custody, said Angkhana, who met the team last week.

But Sonthi's hint might help steer inquiries in the right direction, she said, adding that the coup leader's move gave her hope.

DSI spokesman Col Piyawat Kingket said the department would contact Sonthi to obtain more information about the disappearance, because existing evidence provided no links to people close to Thaksin or leads to the possible arrest of any suspects, he said.

An informed source said an individual at Government House had several phone conversations with one of the five police officers, who was heading from Bangkok to the western province of Ratchaburi, from 8.30pm on the night Somchai was abducted.

The former prime minister Thaksin told Angkana in a private meeting last year that her husband was dead and that some government officials were involved. He later instructed the DSI to continue looking into the case.

Aran Pancharoen, a colleague of Somchai from the Muslim Lawyers Association, called for the authorities to overhaul the investigation team in order to make real progress.

Investigators had to be independent and free from possible interference by influential figures, otherwise they could be blocked from gathering the truth, Aran said.

Somchai was the former chairman of the Muslim Lawyers Association. He defended many Muslim suspects accused of violence in the restive South.

He went missing after publicly revealing that police had tortured his clients. The disclosure caused a huge loss of face for the police and was believed to be the key motive for his abduction.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

Missing lawyer is confirmed dead : Attorney General

Police will issue arrest warrants soon against a group of people who allegedly involved in killing Somchai Neelapaichit, a Thai Muslim lawyer who went missing two years ago.

Spokesman of Attorney General Office, Attaporn Yaisawang said that his office has received evidences from Department of Special Investigation that proved that Somchai who went missing has already died.

Therefore, the charges against suspects will be murders, instead of holding without permission as earlier charged.

However Somchai refused to reveal names of suspects.

Earlier during Thaksin government, police had arrested four police officers for allegedly detaining Somchai, who disappeared on March 2004. Although many believed that Somchai had already died, but his body was never found. Therefore, the charges against the ground of police were just detaining Somchai.

The Nation

Forensic lab tests underway on Somchai case bone fragments

BANGKOK, Nov 7 (TNA) - Thai forensic officials said Tuesday that laboratory tests have begun on bone fragments discovered at a Ratchaburi garbage dump--possible new clues to help solve the case of a missing and believed-to-have-been-murdered human rights lawyer.

Acting director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) Porntip Rojanasunan said preliminary results separting human bone samples from animal remains could be available Thursday.

Forensic scientists at Thailand's Central Institute of Forensic Science are conducting laboratory tests on more than 500 bone fragments found at a garbage dump site in Ratchaburi, according to Khunying Porntip.

Tests on bone fragments are parts of the officials attempt to find solid evidence to confirm the death of Somchai Neelaphaijit, abducted in March 2004 while defending a group of Muslims charged with plotting attacks in the insurgency-plagued south.

He went missing after publicly accusing Thailand's police of torturing his clients while in custody.

Investigators believed that his body was disposed at the garbage dump in Ratchaburi where forensic teams conducted forensic work, searching for human bones.

The well-known forensic expert said veterinarians will inspect bone fragments to distinguish human bones from animal bones on Thursday (November 9). Chemical solution will be used in the tests for accurate results, which will be released within two weeks.

Khunying Porntip said forensic teams will conduct DNA tests on bones which are in good condition and she will send pictures of bone pieces to specialists at the University of Tennessee in the United States to analyse the pictures of bones.

TNA