CALL TO RE-EXAMINE DRUGS WAR KILLINGS

Kraisak Wants DSI to Hold New Inquiries

Kraisak Choonhavan, a former Nakhon Ratchasima senator, has urged
the Justice Ministry to re-examine the human rights violations which
occurred during the rule of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

He said the interim government should attach importance to the cases
because the United Nations had submitted 26 questions on them to
Thai authorities last year.

"More than 2,000 people died in the extra-judicial killings during
the war on drugs launched by the Thaksin government in 2003. It was
believed that state officials were also involved in many of the
deaths," said Mr Kraisak after an hour-long meeting with Justice
Permanent Secretary Jarun Pukditanakul.

Evidence linking some state officials to the extra-judicial killings
has also been submitted to the ministry, he said.

Mr Kraisak wants the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to
take over the job of investigating these cases, which include the
killing of a man in Nakhon Ratchasima province who became rich from
winning the first-prize lottery but was subsequently shot dead
because his name was on the government's list of drug dealers.

Mr Kraisak also called on the DSI to probe human rights violations
in the three southernmost provinces. In particular the killing of
Fakhruddin Boto, a former Narathiwat senator, which was said to have
been masterminded by state officials.

Mr Fakhruddin, 52, was shot dead from close range with an 11mm
pistol in Ra-ngae district while he was riding his motorcycle home
from the local market.

A source said Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont last week ordered
Kitti Limchaikij, the newly appointed secretary-general of the
Office of Narcotics Control Board, to dig into the extra-judicial
killings of 2,500 people during the Thaksin government's war on
drugs that began in February 2003. The prime minister wants
a clearer picture of how many deaths actually involved drug dealers
and how many did not, the source said.

Mr Surayud also wants to know the exact number of cases in which
state officials were implicated, said the source.