NO DRUGS WAR KILLERS FOUND

Investigators' Final Report Blames No One

Nakhon Ratchasima - The inquiry into the extra-judicial killings
during the war on drugs by those serving under the Thaksin Shinawatra
government has found no evidence which would enable the punishment of
those involved, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said yesterday. More
than 2,500 people are believed to have been killed.

Gen Surayud said he had just received a final report from panel
chairman Khanit na Nakhon stating that no one could be held to blame
for the killings.

"Due to lack of evidence, as many witnesses have refused to come
forward to provide vital information to the investigators, this panel
couldn't hold anyone responsible," he said when leading reporters on
a tour of his resort home in Khao Yai Thieng in Sikhiu district.

The committee, formally known as the Independent Commission for Study
and Analysis of the Formation and Implementation of Drug Suppression
Policy (ICID), was appointed by the Surayud government in August last year.

It has 12 members, including senior criminal justice officials, law
enforcement officers, and human rights defenders. It had been given
10 months to investigate the deaths of about 2,500 people killed
during the three-month anti-drugs drive from Feb 1 to April 30, 2003.

The ICID was not the only agency which was unsuccessful in solving
cases involving human rights abuses committed during the Thaksin regime.

The Department of Special Investigation also failed to name those
behind the disappearance of Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit.

"Even though the investigators have the names of people they believe
were involved in the disappearance of Mr Somchai, they still can't
find substantial evidence to press charges against them," Gen Surayud said.

Mr Somchai, who is now presumed dead, went missing four years ago.
After his disappearance, police arrested five suspects, all of them
police officers.

His family, colleagues and human rights activists believe his
disappearance was related to his work as a defence lawyer for Jemaah
Islamiyah terrorist suspects from the South.