12 years and 5 months after the crime, a military court in Pattani Province has sentenced 8 soldiers for beating to death Wichian Puaksom, a 26-year-old private.

The Constitutional Court has ruled that an Emergency Decree postponing implementation of several sections in the new Prevention of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act is not in line with the Constitution, declaring it invalid. This means that the act goes into effect in its entirety.

<p>The Cabinet has decided to postpone the enforcement of several sections in the new Prevention of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act requiring police officers to make audio and video recordings from the moment of arrest through to release, claiming the need for training and equipment.</p>

<p>The Royal Thai Police have issued a letter to the Ministry of Justice, asking them to delay enforcement of Anti-Torture Act. It claims the police are not ready in terms of training and equipment.</p>

<p>2 months after the parliamentary approval, the bill preventing state-led torture and enforced disappearance has been enforced.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On the occasion of International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Amnesty International consider the adoption of the anti-torture bill to constitute an important step toward the prevention and redress of these crimes.</p>

<p>Efforts to criminalise state-sanctioned acts of torture and enforced disappearance have ebbed and flowed over the past decade. While the draft act just approved by the legislature is not without shortcomings, lawmakers finally managed to pass the bill, despite political turbulence.</p>

<p>CSOs demand the House of Representatives to immediately approve the anti-torture and enforced disappearance bill after the Senate review.</p>

<p>After over 5 months, the Senate ad-hoc committee has finished amending the Prevention of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Bill, omitting certain offenses, reducing the statute of limitations, and erasing civil participation in how the law will be implemented.</p>

<p>On the International Day In Support of Victims of Torture (4 July), 6 human rights organizations issued <a href="https://www.amnesty.or.th/en/latest/news/1012/">an open letter</a> to the Senate and the Extraordinary Committee raising concerns at the ongoing delay&nbsp;in finalizing and adopting the anti-torture and enforced disappearance bill.</p>

<p>In a meeting on 27 June, the senate <a href="https://pis.parliament.go.th/PARWeb/doc/meeting-agenda/MeetingAgendaDetailForQRCode?meetingId=uxbA2uCkraqFOgaC5gs">approved</a> an ad-hoc committee request to extend discussion of a draft act to prevent torture and enforced disappearances until mid-August so that its stipulations can be thoroughly examined. &nbsp;The bill passed the lower house on 28 February 2022 after a first reading.</p>

<p>On 8 June, the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases sentenced to death Thitisant &lsquo;Joe Ferrari&rsquo; Utthanaphon, a former police colonel, and another 5 officers for suffocating a drug suspect to death with plastic bags in August 2021. The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.</p>