Human Rights Watch Urges Junta to Free Political Prisoner on Hunger Strike

By

-

16 August 2016, 13:04

Activist Sirawith 'Ja New' Seritiwat cosplays as a corrections officer Saturday as he collects postcards at Bangkok's BTS National Stadium in in support of Jatupat 'Pai' Boonpattararaksa, who was arrested for violating the Referendum Act and is now on a hunger strike.

BANGKOK — Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for the military government to release an activist currently on a hunger strike after he was arrested for campaigning against the junta-sponsored charter.

The New York-based group’s statement came as Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, now on the 10th day of a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment, is said to be in poor health after reportedly passing out on Sunday.

“The junta should immediately free Jatupat and other activists who peacefully protested the proposed constitution. In the meantime, he should be under the supervision of doctors in case his health condition worsens, and diplomats should be allowed to visit him,” the group’s regional director, Brad Adams, wrote in the statement released from New York.

Read: Fourth Day of Hunger Strike For Jailed Referendum Activist

The 25-year-old activist, better known as “Phai Dao Din,” is being held at the Phu Khiao Prison in Chaiyaphum province while he awaits trial on a count of violating the Referendum Act by openly campaigning against the charter passed by a majority on Aug. 7.

Jatupat refused to seek release on bail because he rejected the legitimacy of the charge. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years behind bars.

Adams added that the United Nations and friends of Thailand around the world should press junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha to immediately end arbitrary arrests of critics and dissidents, as well as drop criminal cases against those who peacefully expressed their minds.

“The junta should match its rhetoric promises with real actions to restore respect for rights and democratic rule,” Adams wrote.

Activist friends of Jatupat said his decision to go on a hunger strike was his own.

A spokeswoman for the New Democracy Movement said the group doesn’t have a position on whether to encourage Jatupat to end his fast and would travel by bus to visit him Wednesday.

“We didn’t try to stop him from being on hunger strike. We respect his decision,” Chanoknan Ruamsap said.

Missing Army Helo Found With 5 Bodies Inside

By

Associated Press

-

16 August 2016, 12:46

More than 400 military officers join the search and rescue operation for the missing Air Force helicopter Monday in northern province Chiang Mai.

CHIANG MAI — Searchers found the wreckage of a missing army helicopter on Monday along with the bodies of the five people on board, officials said.

Contact with the UH-72 helicopter was lost Sunday as it was flying over the northern provinces of Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai. The crash is suspected to have been caused by low visibility due to heavy storms, typical of Thailand’s monsoon season.

The commander at the Kawila army base in Chiang Mai, Maj. Gen. Kosol Prathumchart, said the wreckage was found in a heavily forested area on Doi Inthanon, Thailand’s highest mountain. He confirmed the death of an infantry division commander who was aboard with a four-man crew.

The helicopter disappeared as it was returning from a flood relief operation in Mae Hong Son.

In late June an air force helicopter crashed in the southeastern province of Rayong while on a resupply mission for a radar station. It took three days until searchers were able to find the wreckage of the Bell UH-1 helicopter and recover the bodies of its three crewmen.

Related stories:

Downed Huey Located, All Crew Dead

Search For Missing Air Force Helicopter Enters Third Day

Army Downplays Concern Over Old Choppers After Deadly Crash

Doctor-Kicking Patient Called in For Questioning (Video)

By

Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

-

16 August 2016, 12:38

PHAYAO — Jeered by many — yet cheered by a few — it was the kick seen round the internet Saturday.

Former mayor Surakiat Phetpradub, 66, was summoned to appear Wednesday after admitting that he was indeed the man in a viral video seen kicking his much younger doctor right in the neck at a hospital in the northern province of Phayao on the night of Aug. 6.

Surakiat said it was a righteous kick because the doctor, 30-year-old Thongchai Muangkhum, did not treat him properly during his visit to Maechai Hospital.

By Thursday, Thongchai had filed a charge of assault against Surakiat, two days before security camera footage of the incident went viral Saturday to wide condemnation.

Speaking to reporters Saturday, Surakiat said the clip did not fairly show what happened because it didn’t capture sound; therefore, no one could hear Thongchai speak to him in a loud, aggressive manner.

“I am discussing with the Phayao Lawyer Council to see what can I do, as the video only has the image but not the sound. It has affected my image,” he said.

Public Health official Sophon Mekthon on Sunday said a report on the incident indicated Surakiat raged against the physician because he pressed his stomach during examination, though he had told him his pain was in his chest.

Thongchai declined to be interviewed for this story.

Thongchai said he had waited five days before filing a police complaint because he was waiting for an apology that never came, according to Lt. Col. Jaroon Muangmoon.

Surakiat was not without a few supporters who said he struck a blow against imperious physicians everywhere.

“I totally understand him. I am someone who used to feel like doing this,” wrote Youtuber user Duang Monjita. “When a doctor just listened to my heartbeat two times then said I had gastroesophageal reflux disease without even checking my medical record. I almost cried!”

Nevertheless, the Medical Council of Thailand on Monday issued a statement supporting Thongchai and calling for measures protecting physicians on duty.

See 7 of Bollywood’s Best at Indian Film Fest

By

Kaewta Ketbungkan, Staff Reporter

-

16 August 2016, 12:08

BANGKOK — Think Bollywood films are just a lot of dancing and singing? Granted, there is a lot of that. But discover there’s more than swirling saris in seven acclaimed Indian flicks coming to the big screen at the upcoming Indian Film Festival.

Leading the pack is Bollywood’s highest grossing film to date, “PK,” a 2014 sci-fi comedy that’s received international recognition by critics and audiences alike for its satirical take on religion and belief seen through the eyes of an alien who comes to Earth on a research mission.

Also screening at Paragon Cineplex is the 2013 action-comedy “Chennai Express,” starring heartthrob duo Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone; 2015 feel-good road movie “Piku;” action comedy “Dilwale;” drama “Bajrangi Bhaijaan;” epic historical romance “Bajirao Mastani;” and “Baahubali,” the only Tollywood film from South India which ranks as the highest grossing Telugu language film of all time.

Tickets for each film are 150 baht and can be reserved online via Major Cineplex and Bollywood Bangkok.

The festival screens one movie daily at 7:30pm from Monday to Aug. 28 at Paragon Cineplex in the Siam Paragon shopping mall, which can be reached via BTS Siam, exits No. 3 or 5.

Phuket Bombing Suspect Tied to Southern Insurgency, Police Say

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

-

16 August 2016, 11:40

Security officers on Friday inspect the scene of bomb attack on Phuket, where an unexploded firebomb was found two days earlier.

BANGKOK — Police announced Tuesday they are seeking a man believed to have planted an unexploded firebomb in Phuket province prior to the spree of bomb attacks that rocked southern Thailand.

Although deputy police chief Sriwarah Rangsipramkul did not name the suspect, he said the bomber had a history of involvement in separatist attacks in the Deep South, the first admission by the authorities that the decade-long insurgency could be linked to the recent bombing spree.

Cops Offer 200,000 Baht Bounty For Leads on Bombers

“Based on the investigation, I believe this suspect is an important key to implicate other members in the network,” Gen. Sriwarah said at Tuesday’s news conference.

According to Sriwarah, the suspect planted a firebomb made from a mobile phone power bank in the Patong Beach area of Phuket on Wednesday. The bomb was found and police officers later defused it. Police initially claimed it was not an explosive device.

The unexploded bomb presaged the series of bomb and arson attacks that struck that struck seven provinces over the course of the Mother’s Day holiday on Thursday and Friday, killing four people.

Sriwarah said a military court approved a warrant for the Phuket suspect on Tuesday. He added that DNA traces found at the crime scene suggested the same suspect has been involved in other “incidents” in Narathiwat province since 2004.

A firebomb made from a mobile phone power bank found in Patong on Wednesday.

“We have coordinated with every relevant border checkpoint that is a possible escape route for this suspect to prevent him from fleeing” the police general said.

Sriwarah’s remark came closer to confirming what many analysts have said in recent days but the government has so far denied: That the separatists in the three southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat were behind the Mother’s Day bombing campaign.

Since 2004, insurgents have staged bomb, arson and shooting attacks in the Muslim-majority region in a bid to secede the three provinces and form an independent nation.

Mother’s Day Bombings: Arrest on Oil Rig, Unknown Number Detained by Junta

Separatist Violence Surged as Thailand Voted

Claiming Insanity, Fatal Crash Suspect Jenphop Wants Trial Shelved

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

-

15 August 2016, 18:20

Jenphop Viraporn is ordained as a monk in a ceremony on May 9 at Wat Soontorn Thamtan in Bangkok. He left the monkhood several weeks later.

AYUTTHAYA — A businessman charged with killing two graduate students with his Mercedes-Benz in March could not make his first court appearance Monday due to a mental breakdown, his lawyer told the court.

Because of his mental condition, Jenphop Viraporn’s lawyer also asked the court to indefinitely postpone the trial on the grounds he is unfit to stand trial, a move slammed by the family of one of his victims as a cheap trick to delay justice.

Victims’ Families Refuse Cash, Demand Full Prosecution of Jenphop

The millionaire defendant was scheduled to appear in an Ayutthaya provincial court Monday to enter his defense for the speed crash that killed Krissana Thaworn and Thantapat Horsaengchai on March 13 for which he stands accused of fatal reckless driving while intoxicated.

But he never showed up. Instead, his lawyer said Jenphop is suffering immense stress that led to a breakdown, and he’s receiving treatment at a hospital, according to an attorney for the Thaworn family.

“So the court issued a summons for the doctors in charge of his treatment to give their testimony whether Mr. Jenphop is mentally incompetent to the point that he cannot fight his case” said the lawyer, who would only identify himself as Teeranit.

The doctors are due to report to the court three months from now on Nov. 14.

If Jenphop’s lawyers successfully convince the court that their client is unfit for trial, the whole process would be suspended until he’s fully recovered from his mental condition, said Teeranit, who pledged to contest that scenario.

“You have to understand that when he committed the crime, he was not mentally disabled,” Teeranit said. “Under the principles of the law, in order to be declared unfit for trial, the defendant must be so mentally disabled that he cannot make his own defense. If he’s still in a state that he can communicate, he can fight the case.”

Nongkarat Rungsang, whose brother Krissana was driving the Ford which Jenphop rear-ended at a speed exceeding 200kph, said she was not surprised by today’s turn of events.

“We already expected that the lawyer on that side will use this … this … well, to speak frankly, this trick to buy time,” Nongkarat said. “He confessed in the civil case to recklessness, but he contested all other charges. So he has to use this method. In a civil case, he could use his money to compensate his victims, but the other charges are criminal counts that he cannot settle. It’s not beyond what we expected.”

Nevertheless, Nongkarat said, the news left her parents disappointed because they were looking for a swift conclusion to the case, saying Jenphop had personally admitted fault and apologized to them in a meeting last month.

“We feel that if he admitted his wrongdoing then, he should accept his punishment now. I want to tell him, man up,” Nongkarat said. “It’s so clear he’s guilty. The day when he met my parents to discuss a settlement, he was still conscious, and he could still talk. But now that he’s entered the legal process, why is he using this way to fight?”

For the crash that killed Krissana, 32; and Thantapat, 34; Jenphop is charged with refusing a sobriety test, which under the law automatically leads to another offense, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He also faces charges of fatal reckless driving, driving over the speed limit and resisting law enforcement officers.

The suspect confessed to only one charge of fatal reckless driving and contested all others.

Nongkarat said her family has asked the court to appoint an impartial doctor to assess whether Jenphop was indeed suffering any mental disorder. If the doctor appointed by the court finds so, she would accept the ruling, but otherwise she will continue pushing for a trial.

“If the doctor accepts [Jenphop is mentally ill], then we accept. But this is not clear at all, so we won’t let this matter slide,” Nongkarat said.

Top Cop Apologizes for Delay in Jenphop Case

Jenphop Plowed Through Toll Booth Before Deadly Crash (Video)

Voice TV Pressured to Pull Pundits For Rattling Junta

By

Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

-

15 August 2016, 15:47

Voice TV host M.l. Nattakorn Devakula. Image: Voice TV

BANGKOK — Voice TV today pulled two well-known political commentators from programs it airs for 10 days beginning today under pressure from the military regime and telecommunications regulators.

An unnamed senior executive at the station offered to muzzle the two commentators to avoid harsher sanctions by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, a state agency granted special powers last month to censor the media, according to Commissioner Supinya Klangnarong.

The station’s news director took to Twitter to explain the rationale.

“We have to reduce the degree [of intensity] in order to survive under thes special circumstances,” Prateep Kongsib, director of content and news Tweeted late Sunday night.

Supinya said the offer was extended by Voice TV on Monday morning to avoid a 50,000 baht fine and having two programs removed from the air for one week, which would affect advertising. When the board met today, she was the only to vote against punishing the station.

Last month, Gen. Prayuth used his absolute power to empower the commission to censor any media deemed a threat to national security and shield it from legal consequences for doing so. According to an outstanding junta order from 2014, security threats include anything defaming the monarchy, “insincere” criticism of the junta, or anything that might sway public opinion against it.

One of the issues raised about the two men, Supinya said, concerned their criticism of that absolute power Prayuth was granted under Article 44 of the junta’s interim charter.

Supinya said Voice TV didn’t violate any laws but that any criticism of the NCPO could therefore be construed as a violation of that.

Prateep told Khaosod English a face-to-face meeting recently took place between the station’s management and representatives from the junta and commission.

“We are also awaiting to see today if there will be any additional orders beyond taking the two off the air,” Prateep said Monday.

The host suspended from broadcasting is Nattakorn Devakula, the son of former Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula. Pridiyathorn served a year in junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha’s cabinet following the 2014 coup.

Nattakorn won’t appear on the Wake Up News and Tonight Thailand programs for 10 days. The other political commentator is Atukkit Sawangsuk, better known through his nom de plume of Bai Tong Haeng, who will not appear on any programs for 10 days.

Nattakorn replied to inquiries today saying he didn’t want to comment in detail.

“I would rather stay quiet on it. Trying to cooperate with [the commission] to prevent further escalation of the conflicts,” he wrote to a reporter. “But to sum it short, they are unhappy with commentary on political/divisive issues of most kinds.”

He said they were trying to strike a balance between the situation and their professional obligations.

“We are trying to make sure not to upset any more higher-ups but maintain a standard of criticism,” he said. “I still [do] the Daily Dose on air at 8pm and will return to Wake Up and Tonight Thailand on Friday, 25 August, after taking a ‘breath,’” Nattakorn said.

Voice TV is owned by Panthongtae Shinawatra, the only son of ousted and fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and was ordered to go dark for a month by the junta in the aftermath of the 2014 coup.

Prateep said pressures have been building for awhile.

“They claim that the two have negative attitudes towards the NPCO,” said Prateep, in reference to the National Council for Peace and Order, the formal name of the junta. Prateep said Nattakorn has been warned before and has been brought in for “attitude adjustment” twice before.

The commission, meanwhile, is unhappy about the content and way Nattakorn has been explaining things recently, as well as his attitude, Prateep said, adding that Nattakorn urged the NBTC to be open minded.

As for Attukik, Prateep said it’s an accumulation of his written work in other media as well, such as columns he writes for Khaosod.

Asked if the move means Voice TV must soften its editorial stance in order to survive, Prateep replied, “That’s the signal they are sending.”

At Russian Mosquito Festival, The More Bites the Better

By

Associated Press

-

15 August 2016, 14:17

In this frame grab provided by the APTN a woman dressed as a mosquito enjoys with others a sunny Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, during the Russia Mosquito Festival in the town of Berezniki. 9-year-old Irina Ilyukhina won the "tastiest girl" category with 43 bites to show for going berry-picking in the forest with her mother. (AP Photo)

BEREZNIKI, Russia — While fear of Zika virus has kept some people from the Rio Games, residents of one Russian town the more mosquito bites the better.

At this weekend’s Russian Mosquito Festival in the town of Berezniki, 9-year-old Irina Ilyukhina won the “tastiest girl” category with 43 bites to show for going berry-picking in the forest with her mother. She was awarded a ceramic cup in recognition of the welts all over her legs.

Unusually hot and dry weather in the Ural Mountains town, however, has greatly depleted the number of mosquitoes this year. Festival organizers had to cancel the traditional mosquito hunt, where participants try to collect as many of the insects as possible in jars.

The heat also had Yana Solyarskaya sweltering in her mosquito costume as she led some of the dancing at the festival, now in its fourth year.

Russia has detected only a few Zika cases, all in people who are believed to have been infected in areas overseas where the virus has spread.

Cops Offer 200,000 Baht Bounty For Leads on Bombers

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

-

15 August 2016, 13:10

Police officers on Friday inspect the scene of the bomb attack in Surat Thani province

BANGKOK — Police offered a 200,000 baht reward for anyone with information about the perpetrators of a deadly bombing and arson spree over the Mother’s Day holiday.

The bounty came as police struggle to identify those behind the nine bomb attacks that killed four people over the course of Thursday and Friday in five provinces, though one suspect in one of several related arson attacks has been arrested.

“I’ve been told that the Seventh Region Police command has set up 200,000 baht reward for anyone who has information that benefits our investigation,” Police Gen. Pongsapat Pongcharoen said Sunday.

Read: Mother’s Day Bombings: Arrest on Oil Rig, Unknown Number Detained by Junta

Pongsapat, who is heading up the investigation into the bomb attacks, said the bounty would be paid even if the bombers aren’t arrested.

No group has claimed responsibility so far.

Apart from the nine small bombings, five buildings across five provinces were also torched or firebombed in an apparent coordinated attack. Police say a Chiang Mai native, Sakarin Karuehat, 32, is being held at a military facility for allegedly leaving an incendiary device at one of the targets, a Tesco Lotus supermarket in Nakhon Si Thammarat province.

According to Pongsapat, security footage captured Sakarin walk into the supermarket with a bag and later walk out without it.

“In this case, investigators have clear information about where and how the action was committed before we collected all the evidence, which includes … CCTV footage,” Pongsapat said. “And then we submitted it to the court, and the court approved the arrest warrant.”

The police general also said he believe the rest of the culprits are still in the country and have not ruled out any motives.

The Mother’s Day attacks were the worst terror attack since a bomb struck Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine nearly a year ago. The Aug. 17, 2015, bombing killed 20 people, mostly foreign tourists. Two ethnic Uighur men are standing trial in military court for their alleged roles in the attack.

In the days after that bombing, police offered a 3 million baht bounty for those with information leading to arrests. After a suspect was arrested soon thereafter, police ended up giving the reward to themselves, saying it was their own work that led to the arrest.

Condemning Attacks, Amnesty Calls on Govt to Take the High Road

Prayuth Links ‘Bad People’ Behind Bombs to Referendum, Calls For Patience

Mother’s Day Bombings: Authorities Move to Secure Targeted Cities

Mother’s Day Attacks: Bombs Hit 5 Thai Provinces, Killing 4

One Killed, At Least 12 Injured in Hua Hin Explosions

7 Injured In Trang Explosion

Berlin Jazz, Exhibitions to Polish German Friendship Jubilee

By

Kaewta Ketbungkan, Staff Reporter

-

15 August 2016, 12:32

BANGKOK — Hear some Berlin jazz performed live and see fine films from Poland and Germany as those two nations celebrate celebrate 25 years of friendship.

The two nations have come a long way since 1939’s blitzkrieg and to celebrate, Chulalongkorn University’s European studies program will host a three-day event starting Wednesday.

Relive a fading chapter of history when 6,000 East Germans clambered over the wall of the Polish Embassy in 1989 Polish documentary “Bye, Bye GDR!  To Liberty via Warsaw.” From Germany, “Winter’s Daughter” tells the story of a 12-year-old Berlin girl’s quest to find her biological father in Poland.

Feast on Berlin jazz courtesy of “Iwona & The Crazy Vibes,” who will perform 18 songs at a two-hour concert.

This year marks 25 years since the two nations reconciled under 1991’s of Good Neighborship and Friendly Cooperation.

For more information about the event, which will include lectures, a graffiti exhibition more, check out the complete schedule of events online. Admission for all programs is free.

The opening night starts at 5pm on Aug. 17 with the jazz concert beginning at 7pm at Chulalongkorn’s Art and Culture Building located between the architecture and fine and applied arts buildings.

The films will be shown with English subtitles at 10:20am on Aug. 18 and 19 on the ninth floor of the Faculty of Arts’ Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Building.

Hot News

LATEST NEWS