This is the country where we live. You can be abducted off the street at anytime if you are a Thai comedian. Wanchalearm Satsaksit was abducted on a Phnom Penh street on June 4...
Detailed story:
"BBC News - Wanchalearm Satsaksit: The Thai satirist abducted in broad daylight"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53212932
Nobody Noticed Wanchalearm
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Nobody Noticed Wanchalearm
"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it."
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That's an interesting story, especially as it's had no coverage here. The problem with politics in this part of the world is that all sides are throwing crooked dice, so you never get a sense of whether this really happened or it's just a false flag to drum up some publicity.
Also, in this modern world of Facebook, CCTV and camera phones it sounds fishy that someone would be snatched in broad daylight on a busy city street. It could quite easily end up all over Facebook within the hour and that would make turning a blind eye impossible.
Also, in this modern world of Facebook, CCTV and camera phones it sounds fishy that someone would be snatched in broad daylight on a busy city street. It could quite easily end up all over Facebook within the hour and that would make turning a blind eye impossible.
It was widely reported in both international media at the time and also in the English language press in Thailand. A ‘free Wanchalearm’ twitter account also got hundreds of thousands of followers in Thailand.
It happened.
It happened.
- Bong Burgundy
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WASHINGTON / PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA —
Authorities in Cambodia say they have closed a probe into missing Thai pro-democracy activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit, who was allegedly abducted in Phnom Penh four years ago.
Wanchalearm was pushed into a black Toyota Highlander SUV on June 4, 2020, near the Mekong Gardens condominium, where he lived, eyewitnesses told VOA Khmer reporters at the time.
Cambodian authorities said last week that they were unable to confirm he ever lived in the building, or find details about the vehicle he was allegedly taken away in.
"We have filed the report to court and the investigation is finished," Khieu Sopheak, secretary of state and spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told VOA Khmer on February 27.
Despite the ministry's remarks, it is unclear if the Phnom Penh Municipal Court has closed the case. Sam Chamroeun, the Cambodian lawyer for Wanchalearm's family, told VOA Khmer last week that he had not been given notice of the case being closed.
VOA Khmer asked a court spokesman for comment but received no reply.
Wanchalearm's family and advocacy groups criticized the lack of transparency in the investigation and called on Thailand's government to press Cambodia on why it appears to have ended the inquiry.
"It has been four years. I want them to tell the family members what happened, how the investigation is. It should not be secret anymore," Sitanun Satsaksit, Wanchalearm's sister, told VOA Thai by phone on February 28.
On March 5, The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances called on Cambodia to ensure that allegations of Wanchalearm's forced disappearance "are investigated promptly, thoroughly, effectively and impartially." It also called on Cambodia's government to keep Wanchalearm's family informed throughout the probe.
Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of the Cross Cultural Foundation, which has assigned lawyers to represent the activist's family, said Cambodia should be more open about what it knows, and prove its claims that no state agents were involved.
"The investigation of a case of human rights violation cannot be treated with confidentiality," she said to VOA Khmer on Monday.
Wanchalearm was a political science graduate who worked at a series of nonprofits before moving into politics and working with the Pheu Thai Party in various positions, according to friends and relatives.
After the 2014 military coup, Wanchalearm was among the Thai activists who fled to Cambodia, although it's unclear when. Cambodia's Interior Ministry confirmed he received a visa to stay in the country in 2017.
But the ministry said it has no record of where he lived in the ensuing years, or what happened on June 4, 2020, the date of his alleged abduction.
At the time of Wanchalearm's disappearance, the Pheu Thai Party stood in opposition to Thailand's military government.
In December 2020, Wanchalearm's legal team and his sister, Sitanun, appeared at the Phnom Penh court and submitted evidence to support their allegation that he had been abducted, including a copy of his purported Cambodian passport.
A prosecutor took note of the complaint, and they were summoned by a Cambodian investigative judge, a move that suggests a criminal case was opened, according to Sam Chamroeun.
However, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Sitanun's Thai lawyer, said the legal team had not heard from Cambodia's court after that or subsequent visits.
"Cambodia police told us they could not find anything," she told VOA Khmer via email on Tuesday.
National Police spokesperson Chhay Kimkhoeun has not responded to VOA Khmer's inquiries for comments.
Sitanun again tried to bring attention to the case on February 22, when former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met with his onetime counterpart, Thaksin Shinawatra, in Bangkok. However, she was unable to pass a request for the former Cambodian leader.
Thaksin's daughter, Paethongtharn Shinawatra, the Pheu Thai Party leader, has accepted an invitation to visit Cambodia March 18-19.
In a press conference on February 27, Danuporn Punnakan, a Pheu Thai Party spokesperson, was asked if Wanchalearm's disappearance would be discussed during the visit.
The spokesman said officials would "rather discuss economy and society than bringing up anyone's personal issue to the table. But if this issue receives public attention, the [party's] executive committees would consider this in their meeting."
Sitanun said she was disappointed by the response, telling the officials, "Do not forget that [Wanchalearm] is a Thai person."
https://www.voanews.com/a/cambodia-ends ... 20128.html
Authorities in Cambodia say they have closed a probe into missing Thai pro-democracy activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit, who was allegedly abducted in Phnom Penh four years ago.
Wanchalearm was pushed into a black Toyota Highlander SUV on June 4, 2020, near the Mekong Gardens condominium, where he lived, eyewitnesses told VOA Khmer reporters at the time.
Cambodian authorities said last week that they were unable to confirm he ever lived in the building, or find details about the vehicle he was allegedly taken away in.
"We have filed the report to court and the investigation is finished," Khieu Sopheak, secretary of state and spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told VOA Khmer on February 27.
Despite the ministry's remarks, it is unclear if the Phnom Penh Municipal Court has closed the case. Sam Chamroeun, the Cambodian lawyer for Wanchalearm's family, told VOA Khmer last week that he had not been given notice of the case being closed.
VOA Khmer asked a court spokesman for comment but received no reply.
Wanchalearm's family and advocacy groups criticized the lack of transparency in the investigation and called on Thailand's government to press Cambodia on why it appears to have ended the inquiry.
"It has been four years. I want them to tell the family members what happened, how the investigation is. It should not be secret anymore," Sitanun Satsaksit, Wanchalearm's sister, told VOA Thai by phone on February 28.
On March 5, The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances called on Cambodia to ensure that allegations of Wanchalearm's forced disappearance "are investigated promptly, thoroughly, effectively and impartially." It also called on Cambodia's government to keep Wanchalearm's family informed throughout the probe.
Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of the Cross Cultural Foundation, which has assigned lawyers to represent the activist's family, said Cambodia should be more open about what it knows, and prove its claims that no state agents were involved.
"The investigation of a case of human rights violation cannot be treated with confidentiality," she said to VOA Khmer on Monday.
Wanchalearm was a political science graduate who worked at a series of nonprofits before moving into politics and working with the Pheu Thai Party in various positions, according to friends and relatives.
After the 2014 military coup, Wanchalearm was among the Thai activists who fled to Cambodia, although it's unclear when. Cambodia's Interior Ministry confirmed he received a visa to stay in the country in 2017.
But the ministry said it has no record of where he lived in the ensuing years, or what happened on June 4, 2020, the date of his alleged abduction.
At the time of Wanchalearm's disappearance, the Pheu Thai Party stood in opposition to Thailand's military government.
In December 2020, Wanchalearm's legal team and his sister, Sitanun, appeared at the Phnom Penh court and submitted evidence to support their allegation that he had been abducted, including a copy of his purported Cambodian passport.
A prosecutor took note of the complaint, and they were summoned by a Cambodian investigative judge, a move that suggests a criminal case was opened, according to Sam Chamroeun.
However, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Sitanun's Thai lawyer, said the legal team had not heard from Cambodia's court after that or subsequent visits.
"Cambodia police told us they could not find anything," she told VOA Khmer via email on Tuesday.
National Police spokesperson Chhay Kimkhoeun has not responded to VOA Khmer's inquiries for comments.
Sitanun again tried to bring attention to the case on February 22, when former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met with his onetime counterpart, Thaksin Shinawatra, in Bangkok. However, she was unable to pass a request for the former Cambodian leader.
Thaksin's daughter, Paethongtharn Shinawatra, the Pheu Thai Party leader, has accepted an invitation to visit Cambodia March 18-19.
In a press conference on February 27, Danuporn Punnakan, a Pheu Thai Party spokesperson, was asked if Wanchalearm's disappearance would be discussed during the visit.
The spokesman said officials would "rather discuss economy and society than bringing up anyone's personal issue to the table. But if this issue receives public attention, the [party's] executive committees would consider this in their meeting."
Sitanun said she was disappointed by the response, telling the officials, "Do not forget that [Wanchalearm] is a Thai person."
https://www.voanews.com/a/cambodia-ends ... 20128.html
Bringing the news. You stay classy, nas, Cambodia.
Sad story which I remember clearly. We met his family by chance when they first came to Phnom Penh following the abduction.
Events were captured on camera. There were witnesses, cameras along the roads, etc.
Cambodia knows what happened, Thailand knows what happened. Protesting is a dangerous thing and they want to keep it that way. Too much at stake for the old dinosaurs ...
Events were captured on camera. There were witnesses, cameras along the roads, etc.
Cambodia knows what happened, Thailand knows what happened. Protesting is a dangerous thing and they want to keep it that way. Too much at stake for the old dinosaurs ...
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Same as the Saudi guy at the Embassy in Turkey both extrajudicial murders,didn’t they find some journalists at the bottom of a river or canal in Thailand or Cambodia their stomachs full of cement I recall?
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The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), and Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) urge Cambodian authorities to implement without delay the recommendations recently made by a United Nations (UN) body to address and resolve cases of enforced disappearances in the country.
Bangkok, Paris, 14 March 2024: The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) made its recommendations to the Cambodian government on 5 March 2024, following the review of Cambodia’s first report under Article 29 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), which was held on 19-20 February 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland. The CED monitors state parties’ compliance with their legal obligations under the ICPPED. Cambodia is a state party to this treaty.
In its Concluding Observations, the CED expressed concern over numerous instances of Cambodia’s lack of compliance, in law and practice, with the provisions of the ICPPED. For example, the CED expressed concern over Cambodia’s inadequate and insufficient legal framework to ensure that allegations of enforced disappearances are properly investigated, and to guarantee the right of the disappeared persons’ relatives to participate actively in the proceedings, as illustrated in the cases of Khem Sophath, a Cambodian boy, and Wanchalearm Satsaksit, a Thai activist.
The CED recommended that all disappeared persons are “searched for without delay,” and that all allegations of enforced disappearance, including the cases of Khem Sophath and Wanchalearm Satsaksit, are investigated “promptly, thoroughly, effectively and impartially.” The CED further recommended the Cambodian authorities guarantee that the relatives and representatives of the disappeared persons, including the families of Khem Sophath and Wanchalearm Satsaksit, “can participate in the search and investigation at all stages of the proceedings” and that they are “regularly informed of the progress and results of the ongoing investigation.”
On 27 February 2024, a government spokesperson told media that authorities had completed the investigation into the case of Wanchalearm Satsaksit – who had disappeared in June 2020 in Phnom Penh — and “filed the report” to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. No details about the report were disclosed and the Court failed to inform Mr. Wanchalearm’s lawyers and family members of this development.
The CED also addressed the issue of enforced disappearances in the context of transnational repression of activists, such as the case of Wanchalearm Satsaksit. The CED expressed concern by reports on the lack of cooperation with the disappeared persons’ state of nationality to assist the victims in searching for, locating, and releasing the disappeared persons, and by allegations of “authorities in the region failing to adequately investigate cases of cross-border disappearances.” The CED recommended Cambodian authorities “actively contribute to strengthening cooperation between the judicial authorities of the countries in the region” to facilitate the sharing of information and evidence, searching for, and identifying disappeared persons, conducting investigations, and bringing those responsible to justice.
The CED requested the Cambodian government to submit, by 1 March 2027, “specific and updated” information on the implementation of its recommendations and any other new information on the fulfilment of the obligations contained in the ICPPED.
The CED findings and recommendations reflected many of those presented by FIDH, CrCF, and TLHR in the joint submission they made to the CED ahead of its review of Cambodia.
https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/cam ... arances-of
Bangkok, Paris, 14 March 2024: The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) made its recommendations to the Cambodian government on 5 March 2024, following the review of Cambodia’s first report under Article 29 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), which was held on 19-20 February 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland. The CED monitors state parties’ compliance with their legal obligations under the ICPPED. Cambodia is a state party to this treaty.
In its Concluding Observations, the CED expressed concern over numerous instances of Cambodia’s lack of compliance, in law and practice, with the provisions of the ICPPED. For example, the CED expressed concern over Cambodia’s inadequate and insufficient legal framework to ensure that allegations of enforced disappearances are properly investigated, and to guarantee the right of the disappeared persons’ relatives to participate actively in the proceedings, as illustrated in the cases of Khem Sophath, a Cambodian boy, and Wanchalearm Satsaksit, a Thai activist.
The CED recommended that all disappeared persons are “searched for without delay,” and that all allegations of enforced disappearance, including the cases of Khem Sophath and Wanchalearm Satsaksit, are investigated “promptly, thoroughly, effectively and impartially.” The CED further recommended the Cambodian authorities guarantee that the relatives and representatives of the disappeared persons, including the families of Khem Sophath and Wanchalearm Satsaksit, “can participate in the search and investigation at all stages of the proceedings” and that they are “regularly informed of the progress and results of the ongoing investigation.”
On 27 February 2024, a government spokesperson told media that authorities had completed the investigation into the case of Wanchalearm Satsaksit – who had disappeared in June 2020 in Phnom Penh — and “filed the report” to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. No details about the report were disclosed and the Court failed to inform Mr. Wanchalearm’s lawyers and family members of this development.
The CED also addressed the issue of enforced disappearances in the context of transnational repression of activists, such as the case of Wanchalearm Satsaksit. The CED expressed concern by reports on the lack of cooperation with the disappeared persons’ state of nationality to assist the victims in searching for, locating, and releasing the disappeared persons, and by allegations of “authorities in the region failing to adequately investigate cases of cross-border disappearances.” The CED recommended Cambodian authorities “actively contribute to strengthening cooperation between the judicial authorities of the countries in the region” to facilitate the sharing of information and evidence, searching for, and identifying disappeared persons, conducting investigations, and bringing those responsible to justice.
The CED requested the Cambodian government to submit, by 1 March 2027, “specific and updated” information on the implementation of its recommendations and any other new information on the fulfilment of the obligations contained in the ICPPED.
The CED findings and recommendations reflected many of those presented by FIDH, CrCF, and TLHR in the joint submission they made to the CED ahead of its review of Cambodia.
https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/cam ... arances-of
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