Is the DSI probe still on?
The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) should tell the public how much progress it has made in the investigations into the disappearance of human-rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit and the murders of environmentalists Phra Supoj Suvacano and Charoen Wat-aksorn, a human-rights group said yesterday.
If DSI director-general General Sombat Amornwiwat fails to bring about justice in the cases, he must resign, the group said. If the DSI made public the progress of its investigations into the three high-profile cases it would help people trust the justice system, the Thai Working Group on Human Rights Defenders said in a letter to the DSI it released to the media. The DSI had closed 91 of the 183 cases it had investigated since it was established in 2004, the letter noted. The letter criticised the DSI for devoting most of its time to investigating cases that are important to politically powerful people, such as the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's controversial purchase of fire-fighting trucks and boats. The DSI was also criticised for failing to investigate cases allegedly linked to certain influential figures, such as the disappearance of Somchai and the murders Phra Supoj, a Chiang Mai conservationist, and Charoen, who led villagers in Prachuab Khiri Khan in a protest against a coal-fired power plant. Meanwhile, Phra Kittisak Kittisobhano from Chiang Mai's Suan Metta Dhamma Foundation and Som-chai's wife, Angkhana Neelaphaijit, yesterday submitted requests to Sombat for details on the investigations into Somchai's disappearance and Phra Supoj's murder. The DSI has been investigating the cases for more than a year. The two also urged the DSI to inform the public about the progress of the investigations.
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