Arrest warrants are being sought for four men, including a former national park chief, linked to the abduction and murder of Karen activist Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen.
Five years and seven months after the Karen land-rights activist went missing, DSI director Col. Paisit Wongmuang on Tuesday morning announced that his agency is in the process of obtaining warrants for Chaiwat Limlikit-akson, the former superintendent of the Kaeng Krachan National Park where Billy disappeared in April 2014, along with three other suspected accomplices.
Billy was on his way to meet other members of the Karen ethnic community protesting eviction from their lands in the national park on April 17, 2014, when he was arrested by Chaiwat on a spurious charge.
Karen Activist ‘Billy’ was burned and stuffed in oil drum: DSI
Chaiwat had been the chief suspect in Billy’s disappearance and presumed murder, but his body was not found until recently.
Although investigators later determined Billy was never released from custody, no legal mechanism exists to hold anyone accountable without a body because Thailand has no “enforced disappearance” statute.
Although Chaiwat was transferred away from Kaeng Krachan, he was later promoted under the military government to director conservation areas spanning Mukdahan, Surin, Sisaket, Yasothon, Amnat Charoen and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.
After the DSI reopened the case of his disappearance, Billy’s remains were found this past May inside a 200-liter oil drum near a bridge in the national park. The DSI kept the discovery under wraps until September. The barrel contained bone fragments, two steel bars and other physical evidence.
Investigators believe his skull was broken and his body stuff into the oil drum before being set on fire and thrown in the river.
Bones of ‘disappeared’ Karen activist ‘Billy’ found after 5 years
The case has been championed by human rights defenders and pursued doggedly by Billy’s wife, Pinnapha Phrueksapan.
It helped torpedo Thailand’s bid to get UNESCO World Heritage recognition for Kaeng Krachan, the nation’s largest national park.
Advocates hope the case could press the government to reconsider shelved legislation to adopt the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The legislation to criminalize torture and enforced disappearances looked set to sail through the junta’s parliament three years ago but was never ratified.
Related:
Karen Activist ‘Billy’ was burned and stuffed in oil drum: DSI
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U.N. says Thailand leaves legal loophole for torture, disappearances
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