FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
ALRC-PL-002-2007

THAILAND: Landmark report on witness protection available online in Thai

(Hong Kong, April 11, 2007) A landmark report on witness protection released by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) in June 2006 was on Wednesday been put online in Thai.

The 80-page report, "Protecting witnesses or perverting justice in Thailand", is the first to examine witness protection measures in Thailand.

"We are very pleased to be able to make the Thai version of this important document available online and hope that it will contribute to further debate on the need for effective witness protection to ensure basic requirements of criminal justice in Thailand," Basil Fernando, executive director of the Hong Kong-based regional rights group, said.

The report examines detailed systemic and legal issues concerning witness protection in Thailand as a key human rights concern.

It discusses a number of cases in detail, including those of Angkhana Neelaphaijit, the wife of abducted lawyer Somchai; Phra Kittisak Kitisophon, a close colleague of murdered Buddhist monk Phra Supoj Suwagano; and those of police torture victims Ekkawat Srimanta, Anek Yingnuek and Urai Srineh.

Its detailed recommendations include that the witness protection law be improved and expanded, that criminal defendants be entitled to protection, that more explicit criteria be set down for offering and giving protection and that the role of the Witness Protection Office under the justice ministry be greatly expanded and strengthened.

Printed copies of the report have already been sent to government officials and police officers throughout Thailand.

The Thai version of the report can be downloaded online at: http://thailand.ahrchk.net/docs/witness_protection_thai.pdf

The English version of the report is available online at: http://www.article2.org/mainfile.php/0503. The PDF version can also be downloaded directly: http://www.article2.org/pdf/v05n03.pdf.

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About ALRC The Asian Legal Resource Centre holds general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The Hong Kong-based group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human rights issues at local and national levels throughout Asia.