Pravit Rojanaphruk
14 Sep 2012
Commission says 'men in black' may have got cooperation from red shirts
The long-awaited final report from the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT) on the 2010 crackdown, which was obtained in advance by The Nation, shows that the so-called "men in black" had received cooperation from red-shirt guards. It also said that security officers eventually used live bullets, deployed snipers and were likely responsible for the six deaths at Wat Pathumwanaram on May 19, 2010.
6 Sep 2012
The fact-finding report by the People's Information Centre (PIC) detailing what happened during the red-shirt demonstrations and bloody crackdown between April 10 to May 19, 2010, is now available.
Soon, two different reports by the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will be presented to the public, in the hope Thai society can utilise them to lessen the chance of deadly clashes and impunity in the future.
3 Sep 2012
After two years, the People's Information Centre (PIC), a group of activists and academics who seek to end state impunity in relation to the 2010 crackdown on red-shirt protesters, is releasing its report, titled "Truth for Justice: Events and Impact on the Dispersal of Protests in April-May 2010". The group claims there were 94 deaths from all sides. Pravit Rojanaphruk talks to PIC coordinator and co-editor of the report, Puangthong Pawakapan, about what they discovered. Excerpts:
26 Aug 2012
A closed-door deliberation on the merits of the controversial lese majeste law was held last week at Chulalongkorn University in an attempt to build bridges and trust between supporters and opponents of the law.
22 Aug 2012
The vernacular Daily News newspaper on August 13 reported the alarming news of the latest move by the broadcasting regulator to "improve" the country's notorious soap operas.
11 Aug 2012
The growing nostalgia among some Thais for the "golden age" hasn't gone unnoticed by the foreign media.
Last week, the Weekend Journal of the Wall Street Journal wrote about the "dreams of simpler times" that have "spurred the popularity of all things vintage".
24 Jul 2012
Recently on one Facebook account (called ‘IUV’), a picture showing crowd formation that appears similar to one popular photograph of HM the King holding and talking on a walkie talkie attracted over 66,000 ‘like’. Last week, a red-shirt woman who ‘defamed’ a portrait of the King by her foot was later confronted with a group of ultra-royalist protesters as she was trying to leave Suvarnabhumi Airport for New Zealand where she resides. One of the protest placards read: ‘blasphemy’.
20 Jul 2012
Ekachai Hongkangwan's lese majeste trial has been deferred to mid-November after judges advised the defendant to change his plea by saying that he had no intention to defame the monarchy but that he merely wanted to share information.
18 Jul 2012
The lese majeste trial of Ekachai Hongkangwan, a man arrested for peddling pirated copies of a news documentary produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) about the future of the Thai monarchy and the lese majeste law began yesterday.
15 Jul 2012
Social activist Adisorn Kerdmongkol, a key person at the Migrant Working Group (MWG), was among five people just named as outstanding human rights defenders by the Somchai Neelapaijit Memorial Foundation. He answered questions by The Nation on Sunday's Pravit Rojanaphruk about the plight of migrant workers in Thailand. Excerpts:
12 Jul 2012
What kind of political system does Thailand have? The question is deceptively simple but the real answer is not.
6 Jul 2012
The country's first Network of Family Members and People Affected by the Lese Majeste Law was launched yesterday with 10 members who are either family of detainees charged with lese majeste or former prisoners convicted of lese majeste.
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