AUTOPSY ON INMATE FINDS NOTHING SUSPICIOUS

A second autopsy of a prisoner who died two days after his parents' home in
Ayutthaya was raided on suspicion of producing illegal drugs found nothing
suspicious, a senior forensic official said yesterday.

Forensic Science Institute deputy director Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand
said that the autopsy found no evidence of physical assault on the body of
Adisorn Satakurama, 29.

She said Adisorn's hipbone only appeared to be broken because of the
relaxation of muscles and joints as part of the decomposition of the body.

Some tissue samples were taken for testing to see if Adisorn had been
poisoned and the results will be known today.

Adisorn was serving time in Bangkok Special Prison for theft and died on
Friday. Though authorities said he had died of an immune-system
malfunction, his relatives suspected he was killed in jail and asked for
the second autopsy.

His sister, Kanittha Satakurama, said that despite there being no evidence
of assault the family had decided to keep the body until it was clear what
happened to him.

Meanwhile, the president of the Law Society of Thailand said that police
should not have taken away the refrigerator that Adisorn's parents, Nissai
Satakurama and his wife Udom, used as shelter from police bullets during
the heavy-handed raid.

"Taking it away is like destroying evidence. Police cannot take it from the
scene because it indicates the number of shots and types of weapons used,
which could be used as proof of an attempt to kill," said Dej-Udom Krairit.

Police taking this important evidence away amounted to stealing, destroying
evidence and abuse of authority, according to Dej-Udom.

He added that he also heard yesterday that police tried to get the couple
to give them a hand-written, signed letter stating that they had dropped
their complaint against the police.

Dej-Udom said the society yesterday assigned lawyers from the province to
assist the couple because they could sue the raid team for attempted
murder, invading at night and causing damage to property.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday declined to comment on the
raided family's alleged connection to the drug trade, saying it was not the
right time to speak about it.