BANGKOK
A Thai lawyers association has released a damning report on the deterioration of human rights in the country since the May 22 coup, detailing allegations of torture against political detainees and deploring what it calls the “twilight zone” of the judicial process where the junta can operate in almost complete arbitrariness.
As of Monday afternoon, the National Council for Peace and Order - the junta's official name - had not reacted to the 14-page report emailed to foreign media earlier in the day by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, an association created to monitor the functioning of the justice system under military rule.
Last Tuesday, the junta canceled a press conference organized by the organization – in cooperation with the local section of Amnesty International and the Cross Cultural Foundation - to present the report titled "Access to Justice in Thailand: Currently Unavailable - Human Rights Situation in Thailand 100 days after the Coup" at the Bangkok Foreign Correspondents Club.
Based on over 80 complaints, the report is an exhaustive survey of all human rights violations by the junta since the coup - its most striking sections addressing the ill treatment and torture of political detainees by officials.
There were 14 allegations of mistreatment “which may amount to torture,” according to the document.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights wrote that it “has received some complaints alleging that some officials have punched, kicked, pounded or applied pressure to the chest or trunk of some detainees.”
“In some cases, electric wires were allegedly applied to some detainee’s genitals or to their handcuffs and electrocution was alternated with kicks and punches,” it said.
The report also raised alarm about the extensive use of military courts to try civilian criminal cases – even questioning the impartiality and competence of the military judges, “some of whom have not any legal background.”
“Cases against civilians can now be tried in military courts, and the arrest, investigation and legal prosecution are conducted solely by military officials and prosecutors, and the hearings are conducted by military judge… This will inevitably affect the court’s independence and impartiality,” it said.
According to the document, 61 persons are currently facing proceedings in military courts - 47 for peaceful demonstrations.
Based on its findings, the Thai lawyers association states, “the enforcement of martial law is tantamount to a twilight zone of judicial process during which the officials have broad powers without checks and review that can lead to serious deprivations and violations of human rights.”
Sections of the report are also devoted to limits on the freedom of press and the freedom of expression.
In its conclusion, the report says that the junta “holds itself above the legislative, judiciary and administrative power by invoking article 44 of the interim constitution.” It predicts that the military establishment is “determined to impose martial law indefinitely in some areas” and to “exercise absolute power invoking article 44 of the interim constitution.”
Article 44 of the interim constitution – endorsed by Thailand's highly revered monarch July 22 after its presentation by the military - gives the junta chief authority to “order, suspend or do any actions he sees necessary for the benefits of the reforms, the unity and reconciliation of the people in the country, or to prevent, suspend or suppress any action that will destroy the peace and order, the national security and monarchy, the country’s economy or the country’s governance.”
In a letter last week requesting the cancellation of the press conference on the report, the military advised that Thai Lawyers for Human Rights contact the ministry of interior’s Inspection and Grievances bureau if it receives “any complaints from people who had problems in accessing justice and problems in exercising their freedom of expression, or have any recommendation regarding human rights in the future.”
The cancellation was announced barely two hours before the event was due to take place after the junta threatened to prosecute organizers for breaching a ban on gatherings of more than five people.
The press conference would have been the first public presentation on human rights since the military took control.
In a recent televised speech, junta chief and General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who was elected prime minister August 21 by a 200-member National Legislative Assembly handpicked by the junta and dominated by military officers, assessed the limits on freedoms under the military regime as “trivial”.
Chan-ocha appointed last month a 32-member government composed of active and retired military officers and conservative bureaucrats. Except for the finance ministry, all key portfolios are controlled by the military -- including the foreign affairs, education and justice ministries.
The junta has promised "fully democratic elections" in October 2015 after the endorsement of a permanent constitution, which will not be submitted to a popular referendum.
Hundreds of people have been detained in military camps for political reasons since the coup, with almost all released within the seven days maximum detention period authorized by martial law -- which has been implemented across the country.
Two of those detained -- 27-year-old female political activist Kritsuda Khunasen, and student activist Worawut Thuagchaiphum -- claim to have been mistreated by soldiers, alleging that they were subjected to degrading treatment, food deprivation and -- in the case of the student activist -- threats of being killed.
Thailand's political crisis began in November when then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra faced a wave of opposition protests after her government pushed through an amnesty that would have lifted the 2008 corruption conviction against her brother Thaksin, a divisive figure and ex-premier deposed in a 2006 coup.
Confronted by massive demonstrations, the government withdrew the bill, but the opposition alleged corruption by the government and Shinawatra family.
Yingluck dissolved the parliament December 9 and called February 2 elections, which were disrupted by the People Democratic Reform Committee, who want an unelected "people's council" to run Thailand until the political system is reformed.
She was then herself removed by the Constitutional Court on May 7 in relation to the transfer of a high-ranking civil servant in 2011. The May 22 coup removed the remaining ministers and dissolved the Senate, the only standing legislative assembly.
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