Thread: Another One *Missing*

This practice has been ongoing for decades.
It's what they do.

^...*FOJ*...

It's worse than that, he's dead Jim.

Does Thailand still have a mounted Elephant brigade?

Let's hope they aren't in Paris, the traffic can be lethal.

Several celebrities, including a former Miss Universe Thailand, joined a social media campaign Monday demanding answers over the alleged abduction of an exiled activist in Cambodia.
While the majority of Thai celebs – who readily supported causes overseas just days ago – remain silent over the disappearance, Miss Universe Thailand 2017 Maria Poonlertlarp Ehren posed frank questions in her Instagram story about the fate of activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit.
“I may or may not stand with him, I don’t know enough to say, but I am standing together with Thai people demanding that what is happening is wrong and we want answers,” Maria wrote.
Read: Police Chief Faces Inquiry Over Dissident’s Kidnapping

Maria also wrote about three anti-monarchist Thais who were found dead in the Mekong River in January 2019.
“What’s scary is that many exiled Thai’s have been “disappearing” and later found dead stuffed with concrete under water… what kind of place are we living in when we cannot simply voice our opinion?” she wrote. “Fear is exactly what is wanted and it’s how we Thai’s have been ruled with since I can remember. I’m tired of living in fear. Aren’t you?”
Maria said that she was “nervous yet excited that people in my country are becoming more vocal. Time for change is near.”
Singer Hugo Chakrabongse also posted on social media calling for clarity over the incident.
Another perceived to be the anomaly is 23-year-old Sumitra Duangkaew, or Faii, of girl group BNK48. Her Facebook status was taken by many netizens as a message of support for Wanchalearm.
“No one deserves to die just because they have different opinions,” she posted in English on Saturday, receiving more than 14,000 likes and 3,400 shares.
“Thank you, Faii for doing this. Seeing someone who appreciates the value of a human life and uses their fame for good in supporting it makes my heart full,” wrote user Nipat Kaewnoj.
The largely conservative bevy of Thai celebrities has not responded to Wanchalearm’s disappearance with the same enthusiasm as their participation in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Even Praya “Pu” Lundberg, the UNHCR Goodwill ambassador of Thailand, refused to comment on the matter, saying it was too “political.”

Sister of Thai Activist Kidnapped in Cambodia Urges Action by Phnom Penh Court



The sister of a Thai activist abducted in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh in June after posting a video attacking Thailand's government online has appealed for help in Cambodian courts after months of failure by authorities to pursue the case.


Sitanan Satsaksit, sister of kidnapped activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit, appeared before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday to provide almost 200 pages of documents showing her brother had lived in Phnom Penh and describing his abduction, she later told reporters outside the court.


She also gave the court videos, phone and bank records, and a passport documenting her brother’s presence in Cambodia after he escaped from Thailand following a military coup that overthrew the country’s elected government in 2014.


“I think I have provided enough documents to the court now,” Sitanan told reporters, adding that she had been in constant contact with her brother in Cambodia by telephone before he went missing. “Now it is up to the Cambodian authorities to decide whether they will take action to investigate this case or not.”


Wanchalearm Satsaksit was abducted on June 4 in front of his apartment complex in Phnom Penh, a day after he posted a video on Facebook criticizing the Thai government. He had fled Thailand following the 2014 coup led by Prayuth Chan-o-cha, who was then Army chief and is now Thailand’s prime minister.


A friend later said that surveillance footage showed Wanchalearm being driven away in a black SUV, according to a report in the Thai news portal Prachatai. A security guard had attempted to help Wanchalearm, but his kidnappers were armed, Prachatai said.


Following the 2014 military coup that overthrew the Thai government of Yingluck Shinawatra, at least 104 people have fled Thailand over fears of prosecution and at least nine anti-government activists have gone missing, with two later found dead in the Mekong River in December 2018.


‘This is just a start’


Speaking to reporters after Sitanan’s appearance in court, attorney Sam Chamroeun said a court judge told him the court’s investigation will now move forward if they receive enough evidence to proceed, and said his client will provide more evidence and submit to questioning if required.


“We can’t predict how anything will go right now. This is just a start,” Sam Chamroeun said, adding, “We’ll see how long this takes. Right now this is all just at the investigation stage.”


Am Sam Ath, senior investigator with the Cambodian rights group Licadho, said that the evidence already given to the court should now allow the court and Cambodian authorities to pursue an investigation.


“This is an unusual case, and it is important that the authorities and the court work to investigate it in order to seek the truth and provide justice [for the victim],” he said.


Cambodian authorities must now “thoroughly, independently and impartially investigate” Wanchalearm’s disappearance, the rights group Amnesty International said in a statement on Monday, noting that little progress has been made since June to determine who was behind the activist’s disappearance.


“The Cambodian authorities’ failure to make adequate progress in the investigation calls into question their compliance with the [U.N.’s] Convention on Enforced Disappearances, to which Cambodia is a state party,” Amnesty International said.


“I agree with Amnesty International,” Wanchalearm’s sister Sitanan said in a text message to BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. “I think that Amnesty International understands the circumstances [of this situation] very clearly.”


Sister of Thai Activist Kidnapped in Cambodia Urges Action by Phnom Penh Court — BenarNews

Al Jazeera docu... Mods, if this is inappropriate, pls delete.