Ten human rights organisations have called for the dismissal of senior national parks official Chaiwat Limlikit-aksorn and three others from the civil service for their alleged role in the disappearance and death of Karen activist Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen nine years ago.
Mr Chaiwat was sacked from the civil service once before in connection with the burning of Karen villagers’ homes when he was in charge of Kaeng Krachan National Park. The Administrative Court last September ordered him reinstated.
Activists from the 10 human rights organisations — including the Human Rights Lawyers Association, the Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF), the Karen Network for Culture and Environment (KNCE) Tanaosri region, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) and the Save Bang Kloi Coalition — signed an open letter that was submitted to the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on Friday.
In the letter, they note that Mr Chaiwat and the three others are now defendants in a murder case before the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct.
On Sept 5 last year, the court granted bail to Mr Chaiwat and his co-accused — Bunthaen Butsarakham, Thanaset Chaemthet and Kritsanaphong Chitthet — on condition that they not leave the country without permission or intimidate witnesses.
All four face charges that include premeditated murder, unlawful detention and concealment of a corpse, and intimidating the victim using weapons, according to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).
Mr Chaiwat has continued to insist on his innocence and has said he was not worried about the case.
Rights activists and civil society groups will hold a seminar and a concert to commemorate Billy and the protracted fight for justice at the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre on Sunday.
On Monday, the court is scheduled to hold its first examination of witnesses in the disappearance of the Karen rights activist. Three plaintiff’s witnesses — including Porlajee’s wife Pinnapa Prueksapan and his mother Porohjee Rakchongcharoen — are scheduled to testify.
Porlajee was last seen on April 17, 2014, when he was detained by Mr Chaiwat, then chief of Kaeng Krachan park, and several other park officers at a checkpoint at the entrance to Bang Kloi village in Kaeng Krachan district of Phetchaburi.
The DSI first attempted to press murder charges in 2019 after burned human remains and a skull were found in an oil drum in the park. Prosecutors rejected as unreliable a DNA test that appeared to establish the remains as those of Porlajee. However, the DSI persisted and eventually submitted other evidence allowing the case to go forward.
Mr Chaiwat, meanwhile, emerged as an unlikely hero last year when he accused Rutchada Suriyakul Na Ayutya, the sacked former chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, of abusing his authority by transferring officials who refused to pay him huge bribes.
In February this year, Mr Chaiwat was appointed the new chief of the National Parks Office under the Department of Natural Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
