LONG WAIT FOR JUSTICE

Although the war on drugs ended almost two years ago with the government
proudly announcing it a big success, the operation has left indelible
wounds on many people who have been searching in despair for justice and
the answers to their misery.

Thai-language Kom Chad Luek daily recently published a touching plea from
the daughter and niece of a victim in Phetchaburi. With the murder of the
head of their family, no government agency has been able to solve the
mystery of the case or take any responsibility for it.

Somjit Kwuanyooyuen was shot in cold blood in her own house, which also
served as a grocery shop in Ban Laem, Phetchaburi. Hers was a small shop
with a few items for sale and the structure was so old and in such a bad
shape that it could hardly support the police's charge that the family was
"unusually rich".

Nonkran Klindee, Somjit's daughter, said that around 4 p.m. on the day of
the murder, her mother, her daughter and she, who was pregnant then, were
watching TV at home as usual. A car with four men wearing black clothes,
caps and sunglasses pulled over in front of the shop. Two of them got out
of the car and asked to buy some beer. While Mrs Nongkran was about to hand
over the beer to them, one of the two men pulled out a gun and shot her
mother. The man then came closer and shot Somjit at close range seven times
until she died, before her 7-year-old granddaughter who rushed to her side.
After making sure she was dead, the men slowly walked out and drove off as
if nothing had happened.

A half hour later, the police in charge of the area came. They did not
appear to be very attentive, given the serious nature of the crime, and
took little notice of the shells that were scattered all over the place.
Worse, they came up with a quick assumption that Somjit had dealt drugs and
was murdered by her gang, who wanted to cut any link to them.

And that was it. The police could not find any suspects and the case
appeared to have reached a dead end. Ms Nongkran said she had appealed to
various agencies, but no action has been taken.

For her part, Ms Nongkran said her family had struggled since the murder.
She has to raise her daughter and the young baby and has had to sell off
some assets to repay debts of over 100,000 baht for her mother. "If we (had
dealt drugs and) were really well-to-do, we would not have had to sell bits
and pieces to repay debts like this," she said.

Mrs Nongkran said with understandable frustration that what had happened
was very unfair and questioned why her mother had been killed when she had
done nothing illegal. She then pleaded with the government to at least make
some efforts to bring the murderers to justice.

Kwanruen Kaewkrajang, Somjit's niece, insisted that her aunt had never been
involved with drugs. However, she did not know how her name came up on the
black list.

"As we don't know much about laws, we signed whatever the police told us
to. They said then that if we had nothing to do with drugs, we must sign to
express our innocence and our names would be taken off the list," she said.
The police summoned her two times for interrogation and then the whole
issue died down.

Ironically, Somjit and her relatives had been strong proponents of the
government's move to suppress drugs and never dreamt that the innocent and
poor would have to pay for the success of the operation. "We believe it was
the work of police who sought to boost their performance but could not find
scapegoats," she said.

Many more are suffering the same fate. They are waiting for clarifications
or responsibility from the government for what had happened to their loved
ones.

Suppressing drug trafficking is the right move and the people support it.
However, most found hard to swallow the claim that the murders had all been
the work of drugs dealers.

Not only are relatives of the victims waiting for the answers and clear
explanations from the government, the National Human Rights Commission is
also looking forward to them, as is United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights. The international agency even sent representatives to look
into the mysterious deaths of Thais in the hand of unknown assassins whose
lethal skills are so overpowering that the Thai police and government have
not been able to handle the cases.