Panel to monitor DSI ‘scapegoat’ probe
The attorney-general has set up a panel of prosecutors to oversee a Department of Special Investigation (DSI) probe into the case of Panya Khongsaenkham.
Mr Panya was allegedly tortured by police in Sa Kaeo province, who tried to make the 56-year-old a scapegoat for the murder of his mentally unstable wife, Buaphan Tansu.
Watcharin Phanurat, a deputy spokesman of the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG), said yesterday that the DSI is now officially looking into the case under the Act on the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearances.
The attorney-general has set up a panel of nine public prosecutors to oversee or monitor the investigation, said Mr Watcharin, also a deputy chief of the OAG’s investigation bureau. He said he was appointed to head the panel.
He went on to say the panel can form sub-panels to support its work and submit its findings to the attorneygeneral regularly.
The case has received considerable public attention as some state officials have been implicated.
“This is not a joint investigation by both the OAG and the DSI. The prosecutors are only responsible for overseeing the probe until it is concluded,” Mr Watcharin said.
The investigation follows an accusation against the Aranyaprathet police force that some of its officers tortured Mr Panya into falsely confessing to killing his 47-year-old wife.
Security camera footage on Jan 11, however, showed that Buaphan was assaulted, abducted and killed by a group of teenagers who later disposed of her body in a nearby pond.
An order was endorsed on Jan 24 by Pol Maj Yutthana Praedam, acting director-general of the DSI, to establish whether the officers had unlawfully pressed criminal charges against Mr Panya.
If their guilt is proven, their conduct will be considered to have been in violation of the aforementioned act.
Lawsuits against the parents of the five young perpetrators aged 13 to 16 who are accused of killing Buaphan have been filed with the Central Juvenile and Family Court.
Under the Child Protection Act, the parents are being charged with forcing, threatening, persuading, supporting or allowing their children to behave improperly.
The court later allowed the five teenage suspects to be temporarily released.
However, the minors will be closely monitored by probation officers before the court hearing takes place on March 13 at 10am.
The deputy national police chief said this case has served to intensify calls for changes to laws pertaining to minors who commit serious criminal offences.