Lawyers at the Justice and Reconciliation Centre yesterday suggested the authorities drop charges in many cases including 58 suspects involved in the bloody demonstration in Tak Bai two years ago, in which the government has no evidence to prove guilt. The centre, set up last year in collaboration between the Law Society and the National Human Rights Commission to provide legal assistance to local people, plans to spend next week reviewing all cases of violence in the deep South, its secretary-general Kitja Ali-isha said.

"For cases where we find no solid evidence to prove the charges, we will suggest that state prosecutors drop the charges and release the suspects," the lawyer said in a phone interview.

The idea has been raised with the Attorney-General's Office but was put on hold after the coup last month. With a new government in power, the centre plans to raise the cases with the Council for National Security and the Fourth Army Region, Kitja said.

Pramet Intrachumum, deputy spokesman at the Attorney-General's Office, said state prosecutors were ready to drop the cases - as soon as they are ordered to do so by the government.

Kitja said justice is a key element to ending the conflict in the predominantly Muslim far South, as many people were unfairly arrested and jailed without clear charges. Injustice had caused frustration for local residents and fuelled violence, he said.

In many cases, such as the protest in Tak Bai - two years ago on October 25 - suspects were arrested just because they travelled past the protest, or were bystanders who had not intended to join in, he said. "In such cases, I think it's unfair to throw them into jail."

The Tak Bai protest is one of the most notorious incidents from the troubled South. Six people were killed when soldiers cracked down on a demonstration outside the local police station, before another 78 died of suffocation while being transported to a military camp in Pattani.

Thousands of protesters were arrested at the police station and 58 put on trial at Narathiwat provincial court. Currently, there are 390 suspects in custody, arrested in connection with 78 cases of violence in the deep South. They face trials in accordance with the 2005 Emergency Law. Over a quarter of these - some 117 people - have sought legal assistance from the Justice and Reconciliation Centre, Kitja said.

But the lawyer had no idea how many cases should be dropped.

The centre has also received 14 complaints from local residents about the disappearance of relatives and family members. Most were suspected of being abducted by security officials who wanted to eliminate suspected militants quickly but unlawfully, he said.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation