LAWYER DENIES THAKSIN INVOLVED IN 'WAR ON DRUGS' KILLINGS

Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has denied
allegations against his personally having given orders to government
authorities to kill drug suspects during his government's "war on
drugs" campaign, his legal adviser said Saturday.

Lawyer Noppadol Pattama, legal adviser to Mr Thaksin's family, told
journalists that he had telephoned the deposed prime minister in
Beijing recently and was told that Mr Thaksin as well as his
government had never given orders on any killings of drug-related
suspects during the campaign.

Citing Mr Thaksin, the lawyer said the society then jointly declared
war on drugs and that Prime Minister Gen Surayud Chulanont, who was
then army chief, also fully cooperated in the campaign.

National Human Rights Commissioner Wasan Panich has said that the war
on drugs began on Feb 1, 2003, with hastily compiled lists, and that
the Interior Ministry had sent Thailand's 76 provincial governors a
notice that there were three ways to reduce the number of drug
dealers: arrest, extrajudicial killing or death by other causes.

Mr Wasan charged that 2,598 alleged drug offenders were killed in the
first three months of the campaign.

In countering the charges, Mr Noppadol said attempts to make Mr.
Thaksin responsible for giving orders to kill drug suspects were
groundless as some members of the National Legislative Assembly had
charged that the reason Mr Thaksin did not ratify the UN convention on
the International Criminal Court (ICC) because he wanted to avoid
standing trial.

But, in fact, Mr Thaksin did not ratify it because a clause in the
convention went against Article 8 of the Thai constitution which
stipulated that charges against the monarchy and royal family members
are not allowed, Mr Noppadol said.

Only 104 countries out of more than 200 nations in the world are now
signatories to ICC while some developed countries, including the
United States, are not signatories to the convention. "It is not
strange at all that Thailand did not sign it," Mr Noppadol added.

Kraisak Choonhavan, former senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign
Affairs Committee, said recently that human rights activists and legal
advocates leading the charge against Mr Thaksin are pushing the
current Thai government to ratify the ICC which could charge the
ousted premier.