Late last month, on a quiet Monday afternoon,warders locked down Bang Khwang prison and prepared for two executions. A pair of convicted drug dealers, Bundit Charoenwanich,45, and Jirawat Phumpruek,52, were given one hour to contact their families, eat a last meal and make their peace in this world. Then they were taken to the execution room and injected with a series of drugs, the last of which ended their lives.
It was the first time in six years that authorities had ordered an actual execution. They should be the last such prisoners to die by execution. It is time that Parliament and the government end all use of the death penalty.
There are several problems with judicial executions,and no acceptable advantage. Carrying out a death sentence always risks the chance of killing the wrong person. Police, prosecutors and courts are dedicated and efficient, but not infallible. There have been plenty of wrongful convictions over the decades of Thai justice.If even one death sentence is wrongfully carried out,the death would be on the conscience of the nation. A wrongful conviction already takes months or years from an innocent person's life. Nothing could be worse than taking his or her life.
The main reason to abolish the death penalty for terrible crimes is that it brings no true result. Justice and punishment, in the form of imprisonment, parole or work programmes, are meant to prevent further crime. To an extent, they work. While many criminals continue their ways after release, others "go straight"so that they can live freely, without worry about being imprisoned. Crimes are prevented daily by the presence of police and the courts, as would-be robbers, speeders,thieves and others stick to the law in order to avoid punishment.
Study after study over the past 50 years has proved that the death sentence is no deterrent to the terrible crimes it punishes, such as drug trafficking, premeditated murder, violent and sexual abuse of children. While proponents of the death penalty argue facetiously that execution will assure that such criminals do not carry out their acts again, there are many ways to assure that.Indeed, no rational person would accept the end of the death penalty without parallel assurances that such violent acts against society can be punished by true life imprisonment, without early release.
Abolishing the death penalty in Thailand will be an unpopular act by the government, without doubt. Even in advanced Western countries, the majority of citizens always have opposed the abolition of the ultimate penalty. Yet such abolition around the world, from Canada to Cambodia, and from Austria to Australia,has never caused an upsurge of any kind in capital crimes. If anything, the threat of lengthy, even lifetime incarceration seems to be a greater deterrent than the former death penalty. Indeed, in recent cases in the United States, federal prisoners in so-called Supermax prisons have sued the government against their lifetime sentences under harsh, maximum security rules.
The only remaining argument in favour - that it provides an emotional release of sorts for victims and a horrified public - is unacceptable. Justice is not a form of vengeance, like some feel-good ending to a movie. Law and punishment are serious matters.
Last year, a majority of the United Nations General Assembly voted for the first time to oppose the death penalty. For now, the government should order a true moratorium banning more executions, pending a rewrite of the criminal code to ban the death penalty altogether.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Teacher-pupil lesbian affair ends with jail
A teacher at a private school who said she was "pressured" into a lesbian affair by a 15-year-old pupil,was jailed for 15 months yesterday.
Music teacher Helen Goddard,26, of Greenwich, southeast London, pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual activity with the girl between February and July,earlier this year.
Southwark Crown Court heard how Goddard, who was nicknamed "the Jazz Lady", befriended the youngster as they met for coffee after lessons.
Their relationship eventually became sexual, a development the youngster's parents condemned as a "complete betrayal" of trust.
The five-month affair included an overnight stay at her home and a romantic weekend in Paris, the court heard. Their forbidden trysts remained a secret until someone sent the school an anonymous tip-off about their relationship.
Music teacher Helen Goddard,26, of Greenwich, southeast London, pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual activity with the girl between February and July,earlier this year.
Southwark Crown Court heard how Goddard, who was nicknamed "the Jazz Lady", befriended the youngster as they met for coffee after lessons.
Their relationship eventually became sexual, a development the youngster's parents condemned as a "complete betrayal" of trust.
The five-month affair included an overnight stay at her home and a romantic weekend in Paris, the court heard. Their forbidden trysts remained a secret until someone sent the school an anonymous tip-off about their relationship.
Man grows ganja on middle of highway
A man has been arrested for allegedly growing marijuana on the dividing strip of a major highway in Greece.
The 35-year-old was apprehended when he arrived by car to tend his "farm"in the middle of the six-lane highway connecting Athens to the northern port city of Thessaloniki.
Police said he had been harvesting 42 marijuana plants, some of which had reached a height of 1.8m, around 70km south of Thessaloniki.
Officials also discovered a small quantity of marijuana in his home.
The plants were uprooted and confiscated by police.
The man is due to face charges before a public prosecutor.
The 35-year-old was apprehended when he arrived by car to tend his "farm"in the middle of the six-lane highway connecting Athens to the northern port city of Thessaloniki.
Police said he had been harvesting 42 marijuana plants, some of which had reached a height of 1.8m, around 70km south of Thessaloniki.
Officials also discovered a small quantity of marijuana in his home.
The plants were uprooted and confiscated by police.
The man is due to face charges before a public prosecutor.
Carer jailed for sex attack
A carer at a former children's home was jailed for two years yesterday for sexually attacking teenage girls, the Press Association reported.
Gordon Wateridge, nicknamed "the Perv" by his victims, carried out the attacks in the 1970s at the Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey.
The 78-year-old, described as a "persistent sexual bully" during his trial last month, was found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault and one charge of assault at Jersey's Royal Court.
Youngsters sent to the home were vulnerable and suffered from a variety of problems. But Wateridge, then in his 40s, failed in his obligation to look after them, the court heard.
He would grope girls' breasts, kiss them on the neck and, in one instance,forced his hand inside a victim's underwear.
Wateridge, who was born in Croydon,south London, was the first person to be charged in connection with a historic child abuse investigation on the island.
One victim repeatedly broke down in tears in court as she recalled how Wateridge would regularly lean out and grab her and other girls as they walked past the home's snooker table.
The woman, who was taken into the home after her father unexpectedly died,said Wateridge would push her on to the snooker table and grope her breasts and inner thighs.
"It wasn't right ... I was a girl of 13 or 14, he was a big man, I would be shouting at him to stop," she said.
Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Christopher Pitchers said:"What he did was rightly described in the trial as sexual bullying." It was true, he added, that the acts carried out by Wateridge were at the "lower end" of the sentencing guidelines.
He said:"They were vulnerable because they were children and because they were placed in the home without the support of a loving family. They were entitled to expect care, love and kindness but in fact they received sexual bullying and unkindness."
Gordon Wateridge, nicknamed "the Perv" by his victims, carried out the attacks in the 1970s at the Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey.
The 78-year-old, described as a "persistent sexual bully" during his trial last month, was found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault and one charge of assault at Jersey's Royal Court.
Youngsters sent to the home were vulnerable and suffered from a variety of problems. But Wateridge, then in his 40s, failed in his obligation to look after them, the court heard.
He would grope girls' breasts, kiss them on the neck and, in one instance,forced his hand inside a victim's underwear.
Wateridge, who was born in Croydon,south London, was the first person to be charged in connection with a historic child abuse investigation on the island.
One victim repeatedly broke down in tears in court as she recalled how Wateridge would regularly lean out and grab her and other girls as they walked past the home's snooker table.
The woman, who was taken into the home after her father unexpectedly died,said Wateridge would push her on to the snooker table and grope her breasts and inner thighs.
"It wasn't right ... I was a girl of 13 or 14, he was a big man, I would be shouting at him to stop," she said.
Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Christopher Pitchers said:"What he did was rightly described in the trial as sexual bullying." It was true, he added, that the acts carried out by Wateridge were at the "lower end" of the sentencing guidelines.
He said:"They were vulnerable because they were children and because they were placed in the home without the support of a loving family. They were entitled to expect care, love and kindness but in fact they received sexual bullying and unkindness."
Illegal stimulant upgraded to type-1 drug
The Food and Drug Administration has reclassified the illicit stimulant dimethylamphetamine a type-1 drug in an effort to arrest its growing popularity.
The stimulant is related to methamphetamine but has a reduced effect.
The addictive drug was previously classified a type-2 drug, which carried a jail sentence of up to 20 years under the Narcotics Act for anyone caught smuggling it. The smuggling of type-1 drugs carries the death penalty.
The FDA has upgraded the classification of dimethylamphetamine to match methamphetamine, mainly due to the increase in smuggling of the drug.
The suggestion to elevate its classification to type-1 was made by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, FDA secretary-general Pipat Yingseree said.
"We have to keep seeking ways to stamp out new trends in the smuggling of drugs," he said.
"Drug dealers were switching from trading in methamphetamine to dimethylamphetamine mainly because of the lenient penalties."
Mr Pipat said the drug's mild effect,compared with methamphetamine, also enabled dealers to sell more.
Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai has approved a ministerial regulation classifying dimethylamphetamine as a type-1 drug.
Its enforcement is expected to take effect within 180 days after its publication in the Royal Gazette, he said.
Kobkul Chantavaro, an adviser to the ONCB, said traces of dimethylamphetamine have occasionally been found in ice, or crystal methamphetamine.
The stimulant is related to methamphetamine but has a reduced effect.
The addictive drug was previously classified a type-2 drug, which carried a jail sentence of up to 20 years under the Narcotics Act for anyone caught smuggling it. The smuggling of type-1 drugs carries the death penalty.
The FDA has upgraded the classification of dimethylamphetamine to match methamphetamine, mainly due to the increase in smuggling of the drug.
The suggestion to elevate its classification to type-1 was made by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, FDA secretary-general Pipat Yingseree said.
"We have to keep seeking ways to stamp out new trends in the smuggling of drugs," he said.
"Drug dealers were switching from trading in methamphetamine to dimethylamphetamine mainly because of the lenient penalties."
Mr Pipat said the drug's mild effect,compared with methamphetamine, also enabled dealers to sell more.
Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai has approved a ministerial regulation classifying dimethylamphetamine as a type-1 drug.
Its enforcement is expected to take effect within 180 days after its publication in the Royal Gazette, he said.
Kobkul Chantavaro, an adviser to the ONCB, said traces of dimethylamphetamine have occasionally been found in ice, or crystal methamphetamine.
Foreigners accused of B50m jewellery theft
Three foreigners have been arrested and accused of stealing diamond jewellery worth 50 million baht from an exhibition in Bangkok at the weekend.
The three suspects allegedly stole the jewellery from a booth at the 44th Bangkok Gem and Jewelry Fair held at the Muang Thong Thani convention and exhibition centre on Saturday.
They are Daransa Waren Singh Ca-manro,22, of Peru, and Matinev Alexis,29, and Borotiros Casanida Jinee, 54,both of Mexico.
Officers from Provincial Police Region 1 took the three into custody in Pattaya yesterday as they were about to return a car to a rental firm.
A police source said the three colluded with two others to carry out the theft from Aphiwat Tiyasuksawat,25.
The theft allegedly took place as Mr Aphiwat was away and only his mother,Sopha, was staffing the booth.
The stolen items included 60 diamond rings,10 pairs of diamond earrings, eight bracelets and five diamond pendants.
The suspects, who were found carrying fake passports, entered Thailand from Malaysia through Sadao district in Songkhla province.
The other two suspects were seen boarding a bus for Sadao in a bid to flee into Malaysia with the jewellery, police said.
The three suspects allegedly stole the jewellery from a booth at the 44th Bangkok Gem and Jewelry Fair held at the Muang Thong Thani convention and exhibition centre on Saturday.
They are Daransa Waren Singh Ca-manro,22, of Peru, and Matinev Alexis,29, and Borotiros Casanida Jinee, 54,both of Mexico.
Officers from Provincial Police Region 1 took the three into custody in Pattaya yesterday as they were about to return a car to a rental firm.
A police source said the three colluded with two others to carry out the theft from Aphiwat Tiyasuksawat,25.
The theft allegedly took place as Mr Aphiwat was away and only his mother,Sopha, was staffing the booth.
The stolen items included 60 diamond rings,10 pairs of diamond earrings, eight bracelets and five diamond pendants.
The suspects, who were found carrying fake passports, entered Thailand from Malaysia through Sadao district in Songkhla province.
The other two suspects were seen boarding a bus for Sadao in a bid to flee into Malaysia with the jewellery, police said.
CSD opens inquiry into missing pair
Relatives of a businessman and a newspaper reporter in Nakhon Ratchasima have asked the Crime Suppression Division to investigate their suspected abduction.
The disappearance of the pair is believed to be linked to a senior police officer.
Ananwat Atthanapol,45, who is involved in a direct sales business, and reporter Naret Yuwarat are believed to have been abducted by their rivals in a court case.
Mr Ananwat's nephew, Pasakorn Punnampet, said the people he suspected of abducting the pair might be connected with a senior police officer in the province who is involved in the case.
The pair have been missing since Sept 9 after appearing at Nakhon Ratchasima Municipal Court where Mr Ananwat was facing an embezzlement charge,Mr Pasakorn said.
Mr Pasakorn said he lodged a complaint with the CSD because he was unhappy with the progress of a previous complaint filed with police in the province. He said he suspected there might be irregularities in the case and wanted the CSD's help.
The person who accused Mr Ananwat of embezzlement is reportedly a friend of a police officer with a rank of colonel in Police Region 3, covering the lower Northeast, according to the complaint.
"My uncle [Mr Ananwat] had told me before his disappearance a senior police officer handling the robbery case threatened to kill him if he didn't submit to the charge," Mr Pasakorn said.
Mr Ananwat made an appointment on Sept 9 with his lawyer at a shopping mall. While he went to withdraw money from an ATM, someone phoned him,and he left the mall.
His lawyer said passers-by told him he was forced into a car by a group of men who looked like "plain-clothes police".
The disappearance of the pair is believed to be linked to a senior police officer.
Ananwat Atthanapol,45, who is involved in a direct sales business, and reporter Naret Yuwarat are believed to have been abducted by their rivals in a court case.
Mr Ananwat's nephew, Pasakorn Punnampet, said the people he suspected of abducting the pair might be connected with a senior police officer in the province who is involved in the case.
The pair have been missing since Sept 9 after appearing at Nakhon Ratchasima Municipal Court where Mr Ananwat was facing an embezzlement charge,Mr Pasakorn said.
Mr Pasakorn said he lodged a complaint with the CSD because he was unhappy with the progress of a previous complaint filed with police in the province. He said he suspected there might be irregularities in the case and wanted the CSD's help.
The person who accused Mr Ananwat of embezzlement is reportedly a friend of a police officer with a rank of colonel in Police Region 3, covering the lower Northeast, according to the complaint.
"My uncle [Mr Ananwat] had told me before his disappearance a senior police officer handling the robbery case threatened to kill him if he didn't submit to the charge," Mr Pasakorn said.
Mr Ananwat made an appointment on Sept 9 with his lawyer at a shopping mall. While he went to withdraw money from an ATM, someone phoned him,and he left the mall.
His lawyer said passers-by told him he was forced into a car by a group of men who looked like "plain-clothes police".
Meeting turns to mayhem as tempers flare
A meeting on the reassignment of senior police officers has erupted into a heated argument, forcing its closure after just 90 minutes.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who chaired the Police Commission's qualifications screening board yesterday in his position as acting prime minister, refused to allow the meeting to continue because of the arguments.
Deputy police chief Priewpan Damapong said after the meeting the screening board members had been unable to reach an agreement on the reshuffle list.
Other members of the board included Pol Gens Wongkot Suthep: No Maneerin, Wirot agreement Phaholwech,Chumpol Manmai, Jongrak Juthanond,Watcharapol Prasarnratchakit and Pateep Tanprasert.
The meeting yesterday considered the reshuffle list of police generals below the rank of national police chief proposed by acting police chief Thanee Somboonsap.
Pol Gen Watcharapol, who is also the police spokesman, said several Police Commission members suggested during the meeting that the reshuffle be considered after the government had appointed the new national police chief.
He said the board members all had different suggestions and Mr Suthep adjourned the meeting after failing to arrive at a consensus.
The Police Commission has yet to appoint a new police chief to succeed Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwon,who resigned after the the National Anti-Corruption Commission charged him with criminal and disciplinary offences over the Oct 7 protest crackdown.
Pol Gen Thanee, who is to retire at the end of this month, has been serving as acting police chief.
Pol Gen Watcharapol said board member Pol Gen Pichit Khuantechakup, a police affairs expert, was the first to suggest that the reshuffle of
the police generals be done after the appointment of the national police chief.
Pol Gen Pichit's suggestion won support from several other Pichit: Supports board mempolice reshuffle bers including AttorneyGeneral Chaikasem Nitisiri, Pol Capt Purachai Piumsombun, Pol Lt Gen Amnuay Ditthakawee and Pol Gen Bunpen Bampen.
Consequently, Mr Suthep decided to adjourn the meeting, Pol Gen Watcharapol said.
Mr Suthep said all of the senior police officers had agreed the reshuffle should be concluded by the end of this month.
But it did not matter if that could not be achieved, he said.
Police sources yesterday speculated Mr Suthep had decided to adjourn the heated meeting because he and his allies were unhappy with the reshuffle list.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who chaired the Police Commission's qualifications screening board yesterday in his position as acting prime minister, refused to allow the meeting to continue because of the arguments.
Deputy police chief Priewpan Damapong said after the meeting the screening board members had been unable to reach an agreement on the reshuffle list.
Other members of the board included Pol Gens Wongkot Suthep: No Maneerin, Wirot agreement Phaholwech,Chumpol Manmai, Jongrak Juthanond,Watcharapol Prasarnratchakit and Pateep Tanprasert.
The meeting yesterday considered the reshuffle list of police generals below the rank of national police chief proposed by acting police chief Thanee Somboonsap.
Pol Gen Watcharapol, who is also the police spokesman, said several Police Commission members suggested during the meeting that the reshuffle be considered after the government had appointed the new national police chief.
He said the board members all had different suggestions and Mr Suthep adjourned the meeting after failing to arrive at a consensus.
The Police Commission has yet to appoint a new police chief to succeed Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwon,who resigned after the the National Anti-Corruption Commission charged him with criminal and disciplinary offences over the Oct 7 protest crackdown.
Pol Gen Thanee, who is to retire at the end of this month, has been serving as acting police chief.
Pol Gen Watcharapol said board member Pol Gen Pichit Khuantechakup, a police affairs expert, was the first to suggest that the reshuffle of
the police generals be done after the appointment of the national police chief.
Pol Gen Pichit's suggestion won support from several other Pichit: Supports board mempolice reshuffle bers including AttorneyGeneral Chaikasem Nitisiri, Pol Capt Purachai Piumsombun, Pol Lt Gen Amnuay Ditthakawee and Pol Gen Bunpen Bampen.
Consequently, Mr Suthep decided to adjourn the meeting, Pol Gen Watcharapol said.
Mr Suthep said all of the senior police officers had agreed the reshuffle should be concluded by the end of this month.
But it did not matter if that could not be achieved, he said.
Police sources yesterday speculated Mr Suthep had decided to adjourn the heated meeting because he and his allies were unhappy with the reshuffle list.
OKAY SOUGHT FOR MILITARY PURCHASES
A request for a huge new defence budget for the Army and the Navy is being submitted to the Cabinet today for initial approval.
In addition, the Royal Thai Police is seeking to buy 16,045 sets of antiriot gear worth Bt48 milllion, including 18,445 of a special type of rubber baton at Bt1,000 apiece.
The Army wants to buy 1,474 2.5tonne Jeepstyled vehicles. The selected model, a Japanese brand, is priced at Bt3,388,500 apiece, totalling Bt4.99 billion.
The Navy wants to enhance its antisubmarine capability, by modifying a model of a USmade sea helicopter and buying a number of sonar dip buoys at Bt989million, in a tiedover allocation for the next two years.
In addition, three coastal patrol ships are being sought at a cost of Bt1.6 billion, also in a tiedover two year allocation.
To keep paying for defence contracts, both past deals and those in the future, the Defence Ministry is asking for another Bt3.04 billion. Of the entire amount, Bt610 million will be spent this year, with the remainder in the next three years in tiedover allocations.
In addition, the Royal Thai Police is seeking to buy 16,045 sets of antiriot gear worth Bt48 milllion, including 18,445 of a special type of rubber baton at Bt1,000 apiece.
The Army wants to buy 1,474 2.5tonne Jeepstyled vehicles. The selected model, a Japanese brand, is priced at Bt3,388,500 apiece, totalling Bt4.99 billion.
The Navy wants to enhance its antisubmarine capability, by modifying a model of a USmade sea helicopter and buying a number of sonar dip buoys at Bt989million, in a tiedover allocation for the next two years.
In addition, three coastal patrol ships are being sought at a cost of Bt1.6 billion, also in a tiedover two year allocation.
To keep paying for defence contracts, both past deals and those in the future, the Defence Ministry is asking for another Bt3.04 billion. Of the entire amount, Bt610 million will be spent this year, with the remainder in the next three years in tiedover allocations.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Making the case for the prosecution
Public prosecutors who are under the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) play a very important role in the Thai judicial system, but not many people know much about their powers and responsibilities. The Public Prosecution Department (PPD) was established on April 1, 1893, as part of the Ministry of Justice. In 1991, the PPD was changed to the OAG and made responsible to the prime minister. The change in name reflects the broad duties of the office,which are not restricted to criminal prosecution.
The 2007 constitution provided that the OAG become an independent organisation.To guarantee its independence, especially in case handling, the OAG was separated from the executive branch and now reports directly to Parliament.
Kayasit Pitsawongprakan, director-general of the OAG's northern Bangkok Criminal Litigation Department, is a man with a very big responsibility, with more than 100 prosecutors and other personnel under his supervision.At any one time he has ultimate responsibility for the proper prosecution of hundreds of cases - some very important and often with political ramifications.
Mr Kayasit joined the government service 37 years ago and has since held a number of important positions, mostly in the field of litigation. Despite the workload, he enjoys his job and looks forward to two more years in public service before his retirement.
In an exclusive interview for Spectrum Mr Kayasit was more than happy to answer questions on a number of subjects - some regarded as sensitive - as put to him by Maxmilian Wechsler .What is the role of a public prosecutor in Thailand?We are the lawyers for the state, charged with protecting and helping the people. The role of the public prosecutor is not only to litigate criminal cases, but also to uphold the rights of the people.What is your responsibility?I have responsibility over the northern Bangkok area. Like the police, the Office of Criminal Litigation divides Bangkok into three areas - northern, southern and Thonburi - each with its own director-general. All prosecutors in Thailand are under the Office of the Attorney-General.What falls under your jurisdiction?I am covering criminal cases sent to us by the Metropolitan Police, the Crime Suppression Division and the Crime Against Children,Juveniles and Women Suppression Division.We are also in contact with the Special Branch and other police agencies. We don't handle drugs-related cases. These are under the responsibility of the Department of Narcotics Litigation, which covers all three Bangkok areas.What are the powers of the prosecutor?Basically, after the police complete their investigation, they send the case to the prosecutor, who will process and forward it to the court. We will look at the case and issue a prosecution order or direct the police to do some additional investigating or to examine a witness if we think that more evidence is needed.
We can also issue a non-prosecution order if the evidence is not sufficient to prosecute and more can't be obtained.
Furthermore, we can also summon police offices or witnesses to obtain more information. If the police cannot arrest a defendant,for whatever reason, and they have strong reason to believe he/she committed a crime,we can order them to make the arrest.
The public prosecutor in Thailand cannot arrest anyone. This is the duty of the police.We don't have our own investigation team attached to our office either.Can you summon anyone to be your witness?We can summon only witnesses whom the police have already interviewed; we cannot approach those outside the police investigation.How powerful is the state prosecutor in Thailand?In comparison to the US, the prosecutors are more powerful there. Among other powers,they can investigate a case right from the beginning. For example, if a murder is reported,they can access the crime scene and begin an investigation right away. We can't do that here.How many cases did you prosecute in 2008?The Department of Criminal Litigation handled 16,605 cases.How many of the cases involved foreigners?Not more than 10%. Are the number of cases you are receiving from the police to prosecute going up or down this year?It is going up because the crime rate is increasing.What are the most common crimes you prosecute?In general, cases of larceny make up the biggest group, followed by assault and sexually related offences like rape and crimes against minors such as child abuse. We are also handling political cases. From what I have heard from my colleagues in the provinces, larceny is the most common crime there as well.What cases are the most difficult to prosecute?Forgeries of documents, including passports.They are difficult to prosecute because we don't have enough facilities to determine whether a document is real, counterfeit or altered.
We have a police scientific department to do the job, but the quality of the equipment is not so good. Also, it is sometimes difficult to get evidence from nationals and officials of other countries.What is your relationship with the police?Our co-operation with Royal Thai Police is excellent. No complaints there.What has been your biggest case so far?There are many to choose from. However,one of the most important involves an attack against the property of the president of the Privy Council, General Prem Tinsulanonda,that occurred in July 2007. The Office of the Attorney-General has decided to prosecute this case, which involves 15 defendants from the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). We are waiting for them to report themselves to the police.
Another big case is the incident where members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) entered the premises of the National Broadcasting Service of Thailand in August 2008. We will prosecute this case as well.According to media reports there has been an increase of lese majeste cases from previous years.Can you comment on this?
Yes, there has been an increase in this type of offence, partly because of the progress in technology, as it is now very easy to post messages on the internet or to send an email.Do you think that the increase might also be caused by politicians eager to settle a score, using the lese majesty law as their political tool?I don't think so. Lese majeste is usually committed on a website, in an email or during a speech.Do you have the authority to close a website?No, we don't. This is the responsibility of the Information and Technology Department.What is acceptable to you as evidence when someone allegedly makes remarks that constitute lese majeste during a speech?The evidence is usually a tape recording or CD and will be given to us by the police.It is believed among the Thai public and foreigners that every lese majeste accusation has to be prosecuted and sent to the court. Is this correct? This is incorrect. We don't have to accept every case and we can also reject it if the evidence is not sufficient. This has happened on several occasions.
A lese majeste case will not go automatically to the court. It is not fair that an individual has to go to jail just because they are accused of lese majeste. We have to look at the evidence.How many lese majeste cases are you handling now?The police have forwarded to us about 20 cases, all involving Thai nationals.What about the case involving the whole board of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT),who were accused of lese majeste recently?This case is still under investigation by the police and has not been sent to us yet.What is going on with the case against former Prime Minister's Office minister Jakrapob Penkair,who allegedly made a lese majeste remark during a speech at the FCCT in August 2007?This case is with us but we have not yet forwarded it to the court. He was due to see us on September 4, but his lawyer said that Mr Jakrapop couldn't make it as he was engaged in an important mission abroad. He should show up by October 7. This is his last chance. If not, a warrant will be issued for his arrest.Is it your own decision which lese majeste cases should be sent to the court?Every case, whatever the offence, is considered for prosecution not only by myself but by a committee set up by our department. We will look very carefully at the evidence.Have the police forwarded you reports on the cases involving the occupation of Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports by the PAD in 2008, and the attempted assassination of PAD co-leader Sondhi Limthongkul this year?Not yet. Those cases are still under investigation by the police.Why has it taken so long to send the reports?I can't say exactly, but the cases involve so many issues concerning the evidence. It is a time-consuming affair. The police must question many witnesses, for example. Therefore,the police have to be very careful about how they handle everything.Are you handling cases involving the murders of the Saudi Arabian nationals committed here during 1989?Some of these cases are under our jurisdiction,and some defendants have been sent before the court. In some of the cases we issued a non-prosecution order. But as far as I know,the government has decided to re-investigate the cases now handled by the Department of Special Investigations (DSI). Any prosecutions will be handled by the Department of Special Litigations.Is there any problem with corruption in your department?Not at all. Our personnel are well educated and carefully chosen to work as prosecutors.However, I must admit that there was one isolated case, but we dismissed that particular individual immediately.Are you aware of cases where an attempt was made by people with power to influence your staff in some way?We are not influenced by politicians, police or military people. We try to help and to protect the people and the victims.Can a member of the public lodge a complaint with you, for instance, when they can't get help from the police?No, we don't provide such a service.Is there any time limitation for the police on submitting a case to you?The criminal procedure under the law is that if the alleged offender is released on bail, the police have 180 days to submit the case to us.If the person is - for whatever reason - not bailed out, it depends on the type of case. If it is a serious offence - with a possible imprisonment of more than 10 years - the case must be submitted to us within 84 days. However, if the maximum sentence is under 10 years the police must submit the case within 48 days.What will happen if the police do not submit the case to you within those time periods?If the alleged offender is not out on bail the court must release him/her, but it doesn't mean the case is automatically cancelled. It means only that the police don't have authority to keep the alleged offender in custody.In the cases of Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports, the police have been investigating for more than 180 days?In these cases, we haven't started counting the days because the police haven't yet arrested anyone. Whenever they arrest someone then we will start counting. Theoretically the police can investigate a case for a very long time if they don't arrest anyone. The statue of limitations is up to 20 years before a case is dismissed. This, however, applies only to serious offences such as murder.What more powers would you like to have?We would like to have additional powers similar to the ones that the public prosecutor (district attorney) has in the US. For example,being involved in a case right from the beginning. I am talking only about important cases.
Then we wouldn't have to wait until the police submit their report to us. Right now the police are doing everything.
If, for example, we could have looked into the Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports cases and attempted assassination of Mr Sondhi right from the beginning, maybe there would have been more progress.
"A lese majeste case will not go automatically to the court. It is not fair that an individual has to go to jail just because they are accused of lese majeste. We have to look at the evidence KAYASIT PITSAWONGPRAKAN, left
The 2007 constitution provided that the OAG become an independent organisation.To guarantee its independence, especially in case handling, the OAG was separated from the executive branch and now reports directly to Parliament.
Kayasit Pitsawongprakan, director-general of the OAG's northern Bangkok Criminal Litigation Department, is a man with a very big responsibility, with more than 100 prosecutors and other personnel under his supervision.At any one time he has ultimate responsibility for the proper prosecution of hundreds of cases - some very important and often with political ramifications.
Mr Kayasit joined the government service 37 years ago and has since held a number of important positions, mostly in the field of litigation. Despite the workload, he enjoys his job and looks forward to two more years in public service before his retirement.
In an exclusive interview for Spectrum Mr Kayasit was more than happy to answer questions on a number of subjects - some regarded as sensitive - as put to him by Maxmilian Wechsler .What is the role of a public prosecutor in Thailand?We are the lawyers for the state, charged with protecting and helping the people. The role of the public prosecutor is not only to litigate criminal cases, but also to uphold the rights of the people.What is your responsibility?I have responsibility over the northern Bangkok area. Like the police, the Office of Criminal Litigation divides Bangkok into three areas - northern, southern and Thonburi - each with its own director-general. All prosecutors in Thailand are under the Office of the Attorney-General.What falls under your jurisdiction?I am covering criminal cases sent to us by the Metropolitan Police, the Crime Suppression Division and the Crime Against Children,Juveniles and Women Suppression Division.We are also in contact with the Special Branch and other police agencies. We don't handle drugs-related cases. These are under the responsibility of the Department of Narcotics Litigation, which covers all three Bangkok areas.What are the powers of the prosecutor?Basically, after the police complete their investigation, they send the case to the prosecutor, who will process and forward it to the court. We will look at the case and issue a prosecution order or direct the police to do some additional investigating or to examine a witness if we think that more evidence is needed.
We can also issue a non-prosecution order if the evidence is not sufficient to prosecute and more can't be obtained.
Furthermore, we can also summon police offices or witnesses to obtain more information. If the police cannot arrest a defendant,for whatever reason, and they have strong reason to believe he/she committed a crime,we can order them to make the arrest.
The public prosecutor in Thailand cannot arrest anyone. This is the duty of the police.We don't have our own investigation team attached to our office either.Can you summon anyone to be your witness?We can summon only witnesses whom the police have already interviewed; we cannot approach those outside the police investigation.How powerful is the state prosecutor in Thailand?In comparison to the US, the prosecutors are more powerful there. Among other powers,they can investigate a case right from the beginning. For example, if a murder is reported,they can access the crime scene and begin an investigation right away. We can't do that here.How many cases did you prosecute in 2008?The Department of Criminal Litigation handled 16,605 cases.How many of the cases involved foreigners?Not more than 10%. Are the number of cases you are receiving from the police to prosecute going up or down this year?It is going up because the crime rate is increasing.What are the most common crimes you prosecute?In general, cases of larceny make up the biggest group, followed by assault and sexually related offences like rape and crimes against minors such as child abuse. We are also handling political cases. From what I have heard from my colleagues in the provinces, larceny is the most common crime there as well.What cases are the most difficult to prosecute?Forgeries of documents, including passports.They are difficult to prosecute because we don't have enough facilities to determine whether a document is real, counterfeit or altered.
We have a police scientific department to do the job, but the quality of the equipment is not so good. Also, it is sometimes difficult to get evidence from nationals and officials of other countries.What is your relationship with the police?Our co-operation with Royal Thai Police is excellent. No complaints there.What has been your biggest case so far?There are many to choose from. However,one of the most important involves an attack against the property of the president of the Privy Council, General Prem Tinsulanonda,that occurred in July 2007. The Office of the Attorney-General has decided to prosecute this case, which involves 15 defendants from the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). We are waiting for them to report themselves to the police.
Another big case is the incident where members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) entered the premises of the National Broadcasting Service of Thailand in August 2008. We will prosecute this case as well.According to media reports there has been an increase of lese majeste cases from previous years.Can you comment on this?
Yes, there has been an increase in this type of offence, partly because of the progress in technology, as it is now very easy to post messages on the internet or to send an email.Do you think that the increase might also be caused by politicians eager to settle a score, using the lese majesty law as their political tool?I don't think so. Lese majeste is usually committed on a website, in an email or during a speech.Do you have the authority to close a website?No, we don't. This is the responsibility of the Information and Technology Department.What is acceptable to you as evidence when someone allegedly makes remarks that constitute lese majeste during a speech?The evidence is usually a tape recording or CD and will be given to us by the police.It is believed among the Thai public and foreigners that every lese majeste accusation has to be prosecuted and sent to the court. Is this correct? This is incorrect. We don't have to accept every case and we can also reject it if the evidence is not sufficient. This has happened on several occasions.
A lese majeste case will not go automatically to the court. It is not fair that an individual has to go to jail just because they are accused of lese majeste. We have to look at the evidence.How many lese majeste cases are you handling now?The police have forwarded to us about 20 cases, all involving Thai nationals.What about the case involving the whole board of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT),who were accused of lese majeste recently?This case is still under investigation by the police and has not been sent to us yet.What is going on with the case against former Prime Minister's Office minister Jakrapob Penkair,who allegedly made a lese majeste remark during a speech at the FCCT in August 2007?This case is with us but we have not yet forwarded it to the court. He was due to see us on September 4, but his lawyer said that Mr Jakrapop couldn't make it as he was engaged in an important mission abroad. He should show up by October 7. This is his last chance. If not, a warrant will be issued for his arrest.Is it your own decision which lese majeste cases should be sent to the court?Every case, whatever the offence, is considered for prosecution not only by myself but by a committee set up by our department. We will look very carefully at the evidence.Have the police forwarded you reports on the cases involving the occupation of Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports by the PAD in 2008, and the attempted assassination of PAD co-leader Sondhi Limthongkul this year?Not yet. Those cases are still under investigation by the police.Why has it taken so long to send the reports?I can't say exactly, but the cases involve so many issues concerning the evidence. It is a time-consuming affair. The police must question many witnesses, for example. Therefore,the police have to be very careful about how they handle everything.Are you handling cases involving the murders of the Saudi Arabian nationals committed here during 1989?Some of these cases are under our jurisdiction,and some defendants have been sent before the court. In some of the cases we issued a non-prosecution order. But as far as I know,the government has decided to re-investigate the cases now handled by the Department of Special Investigations (DSI). Any prosecutions will be handled by the Department of Special Litigations.Is there any problem with corruption in your department?Not at all. Our personnel are well educated and carefully chosen to work as prosecutors.However, I must admit that there was one isolated case, but we dismissed that particular individual immediately.Are you aware of cases where an attempt was made by people with power to influence your staff in some way?We are not influenced by politicians, police or military people. We try to help and to protect the people and the victims.Can a member of the public lodge a complaint with you, for instance, when they can't get help from the police?No, we don't provide such a service.Is there any time limitation for the police on submitting a case to you?The criminal procedure under the law is that if the alleged offender is released on bail, the police have 180 days to submit the case to us.If the person is - for whatever reason - not bailed out, it depends on the type of case. If it is a serious offence - with a possible imprisonment of more than 10 years - the case must be submitted to us within 84 days. However, if the maximum sentence is under 10 years the police must submit the case within 48 days.What will happen if the police do not submit the case to you within those time periods?If the alleged offender is not out on bail the court must release him/her, but it doesn't mean the case is automatically cancelled. It means only that the police don't have authority to keep the alleged offender in custody.In the cases of Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports, the police have been investigating for more than 180 days?In these cases, we haven't started counting the days because the police haven't yet arrested anyone. Whenever they arrest someone then we will start counting. Theoretically the police can investigate a case for a very long time if they don't arrest anyone. The statue of limitations is up to 20 years before a case is dismissed. This, however, applies only to serious offences such as murder.What more powers would you like to have?We would like to have additional powers similar to the ones that the public prosecutor (district attorney) has in the US. For example,being involved in a case right from the beginning. I am talking only about important cases.
Then we wouldn't have to wait until the police submit their report to us. Right now the police are doing everything.
If, for example, we could have looked into the Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports cases and attempted assassination of Mr Sondhi right from the beginning, maybe there would have been more progress.
"A lese majeste case will not go automatically to the court. It is not fair that an individual has to go to jail just because they are accused of lese majeste. We have to look at the evidence KAYASIT PITSAWONGPRAKAN, left
Friday, September 18, 2009
Ohio execution on hold after vein troubles
US executioners couldn't find a suitable vein in which to inject drugs to kill a 53-year-old murderer,who then got a one-week reprieve from the governor so Ohio prison officials can figure out what to do.
"This is unchartered territory for us,"prison spokeswoman Julie Walburn said of the difficulty in killing convicted rapist and murderer Romell Broom.
Governor Ted Strickland issued the reprieve at the request of the prison warden overseeing the execution chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. Ms Walburn said prison officials would consult "several people" about how to perform Broom's execution, which by state law must be done by lethal injection.
Broom is to be executed for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Tryna Middleton in Cleveland in 1984.
It was not the first time Ohio has had difficulty executing a condemned man.
In May 2006, Joseph Clark sat up to tell his executioners the drugs intended to render him unconscious were not working.
"This is unchartered territory for us,"prison spokeswoman Julie Walburn said of the difficulty in killing convicted rapist and murderer Romell Broom.
Governor Ted Strickland issued the reprieve at the request of the prison warden overseeing the execution chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. Ms Walburn said prison officials would consult "several people" about how to perform Broom's execution, which by state law must be done by lethal injection.
Broom is to be executed for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Tryna Middleton in Cleveland in 1984.
It was not the first time Ohio has had difficulty executing a condemned man.
In May 2006, Joseph Clark sat up to tell his executioners the drugs intended to render him unconscious were not working.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Militant arrested in pre-dawn NYC raid
New York City police and the FBI raided homes in the borough of Queens early on Monday as part of an investigation that has tracked a man suspected of sympathising with al-Qaeda,officials said.
Law enforcement officials provided few details, calling it part of an ongoing investigation by a joint terrorism task force, but members of US Congress briefed by the FBI said there was no imminent danger.
Authorities launched the raids after a suspect they had under surveillance met with people in Queens, the ethnically diverse borough across the East River from Manhattan.
Neighbours at one apartment building,where the home of five Afghan men was searched, described an operation in which heavily armed FBI agents arrived in unmarked vehicles and stormed the building early in the morning.
"It was scary. I wasn't going to stop the FBI and ask them what was going on," said Melissa Khan,28.
At another building, agents took away four Bosnians - a couple and their two adult children - from an apartment they have shared for three years, said an aide to City Councilman John Liu.
At least two of the Bosnians appeared to have returned home by Monday night.A man who answered the door refused to speak to reporters.
A neighbour said she believed a son of the couple, a student at Queens College, remained in detention.
At the home of the five Afghanis, a man who identified himself as Amanulla Akvari, a 30-year-old taxi driver, said the FBI raided the apartment at 2.30am.
He was brought in for questioning and released and said he had no idea why his home was targeted. He believed that one of his roommates was arrested.
"[Investigators] are very good now at tracking potentially dangerous actions and this was preventive," said Charles Schumer, a US Senator from New York who was briefed by FBI officials.
Peter King, a Republican congressman from New York who was also briefed,said the main suspect "was being watched and concern grew as he met with a group of individuals in Queens over the weekend".
"There is very good reason to believe that there is a connection to al-Qaeda ...[officers] would not have moved as quickly as they did if they did not believe there was real potential," he added.
The New York Times , citing a senior law enforcement official, said authorities had uncovered a small group who espoused a militant ideology aligned with al-Qaeda. Neither a specific plot nor a target of any planned attack had been detected, but their activities had aroused suspicion.
Law enforcement officials provided few details, calling it part of an ongoing investigation by a joint terrorism task force, but members of US Congress briefed by the FBI said there was no imminent danger.
Authorities launched the raids after a suspect they had under surveillance met with people in Queens, the ethnically diverse borough across the East River from Manhattan.
Neighbours at one apartment building,where the home of five Afghan men was searched, described an operation in which heavily armed FBI agents arrived in unmarked vehicles and stormed the building early in the morning.
"It was scary. I wasn't going to stop the FBI and ask them what was going on," said Melissa Khan,28.
At another building, agents took away four Bosnians - a couple and their two adult children - from an apartment they have shared for three years, said an aide to City Councilman John Liu.
At least two of the Bosnians appeared to have returned home by Monday night.A man who answered the door refused to speak to reporters.
A neighbour said she believed a son of the couple, a student at Queens College, remained in detention.
At the home of the five Afghanis, a man who identified himself as Amanulla Akvari, a 30-year-old taxi driver, said the FBI raided the apartment at 2.30am.
He was brought in for questioning and released and said he had no idea why his home was targeted. He believed that one of his roommates was arrested.
"[Investigators] are very good now at tracking potentially dangerous actions and this was preventive," said Charles Schumer, a US Senator from New York who was briefed by FBI officials.
Peter King, a Republican congressman from New York who was also briefed,said the main suspect "was being watched and concern grew as he met with a group of individuals in Queens over the weekend".
"There is very good reason to believe that there is a connection to al-Qaeda ...[officers] would not have moved as quickly as they did if they did not believe there was real potential," he added.
The New York Times , citing a senior law enforcement official, said authorities had uncovered a small group who espoused a militant ideology aligned with al-Qaeda. Neither a specific plot nor a target of any planned attack had been detected, but their activities had aroused suspicion.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Taipei seeks return of Chen's millions
Taiwan officials are seeking Switzerland's consent to return $21 million frozen in two bank accounts that a court said the island's ex-president illegally obtained and laundered.
The Taipei District Court last week sentenced former president Chen Shuibian to life in prison for corruption. He was found guilty of embezzling $3.15 million (107 million baht) during his 2000-2008 presidency and receiving bribes worth at least $9 million, as well as money laundering and document forgery. Chen rode to power in 2000 on a promise to clean up corruption.
The China Times quoted prosecutors yesterday who said they will send the court's verdict to Swiss judicial authorities with a request the money be returned to Taiwan's government.
In 2008, Swiss authorities ordered the bank accounts of Chen's son and daughter-in-law, Chen Chih-chung and Huang Zui-jing, frozen on suspicion of money laundering.
The court's verdict said the $21 million laundered abroad included money Chen and his wife had embezzled from a special presidential fund and bribes a Taiwanese businessman paid them in connection with a government land deal.
The verdict said the couple instructed their son and daughter-in-law to deposit the money in accounts in Zurich-based RBS Coutts Bank AG and Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) SA.
Chen and his wife have denied the charges, saying the money was left over from political donations.
For the past year, the legal saga has riveted the island of 23 million people.
Dozens of Chen supporters protested yesterday outside the residence of Tsai Shou-hsiun, the presiding judge in the graft case, saying the verdict was politically motivated. Some held signs bearing the Chinese character for "Shame".
The protesters also said Chen was unfairly confined to jail during his trial.They pointed to a decision to change the three-judge Taipei District Court panel after it originally freed him on his own recognizance following his indictment last December. The new judges,led by Mr Tsai, accepted the prosecutors'argument that Chen was a flight risk.
Taiwanese prosecutors are mulling more legal action against the island's former president and his wife.
Investigators are examining Chen's alleged role in six more corruption cases,ranging from the embezzlement of secret diplomatic funds to taking bribes and money laundering, the China Times said.Chen insists the corruption charges are a political vendetta by the Chinafriendly Kuomintang government for his lifelong push to declare formal independence from China.
Chen and his wife were ordered to pay a combined fine of T$500 million (518 million baht).
The Taipei District Court last week sentenced former president Chen Shuibian to life in prison for corruption. He was found guilty of embezzling $3.15 million (107 million baht) during his 2000-2008 presidency and receiving bribes worth at least $9 million, as well as money laundering and document forgery. Chen rode to power in 2000 on a promise to clean up corruption.
The China Times quoted prosecutors yesterday who said they will send the court's verdict to Swiss judicial authorities with a request the money be returned to Taiwan's government.
In 2008, Swiss authorities ordered the bank accounts of Chen's son and daughter-in-law, Chen Chih-chung and Huang Zui-jing, frozen on suspicion of money laundering.
The court's verdict said the $21 million laundered abroad included money Chen and his wife had embezzled from a special presidential fund and bribes a Taiwanese businessman paid them in connection with a government land deal.
The verdict said the couple instructed their son and daughter-in-law to deposit the money in accounts in Zurich-based RBS Coutts Bank AG and Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) SA.
Chen and his wife have denied the charges, saying the money was left over from political donations.
For the past year, the legal saga has riveted the island of 23 million people.
Dozens of Chen supporters protested yesterday outside the residence of Tsai Shou-hsiun, the presiding judge in the graft case, saying the verdict was politically motivated. Some held signs bearing the Chinese character for "Shame".
The protesters also said Chen was unfairly confined to jail during his trial.They pointed to a decision to change the three-judge Taipei District Court panel after it originally freed him on his own recognizance following his indictment last December. The new judges,led by Mr Tsai, accepted the prosecutors'argument that Chen was a flight risk.
Taiwanese prosecutors are mulling more legal action against the island's former president and his wife.
Investigators are examining Chen's alleged role in six more corruption cases,ranging from the embezzlement of secret diplomatic funds to taking bribes and money laundering, the China Times said.Chen insists the corruption charges are a political vendetta by the Chinafriendly Kuomintang government for his lifelong push to declare formal independence from China.
Chen and his wife were ordered to pay a combined fine of T$500 million (518 million baht).
Sunday, September 13, 2009
NEW YORK'S 400-YEAR-OLD COLD CASE
The victim: John Colman. Not much is known about him,much less about his murder.His body was hastily buried and has never been found. A weapon was recovered, but it vanished.The only account of the crime is secondhand, pieced together from a few witnesses,some of whom might have harboured a grudge. The chief suspects were singled out because of racial profiling but were never questioned. No one was ever prosecuted.
It was on Sept 6,1609-400 years ago when this, the first recorded murder in what became metropolitan New York, was committed. Colman was killed only four days after the first Dutch and English sailors had arrived.
"There's a reason it's still a cold case,"said Detective Michael J Palladino, president of the city detectives' union, mulling the scant evidence that remains today.
Some 300 people have been murdered in the city so far in 2009. Typically, half the homicides are solved in the first year and 20% the year after. Relatively few are solved decades after they occur, although some are.So it's about time modern police brains were brought to bear on the murder of John Colman. Some current and former detectives gamely agreed to apply their skills to the case during interviews.
In addition to Mr Palladino, they were Joseph A Pollini, who commanded the Police Department's cold-case homicide squad and now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and William McNeely, a Manhattan South homicide detective. A couple of historians were consulted to add context.
The facts as they are known (maybe):Colman was an accomplished sailor, one of a handful of Englishmen in Henry Hudson's largely Dutch crew of 16. They sailed into New York Harbor early that September on the 85-foot-long Half Moon , searching for a northwest passage to Asia, and anchored somewhere between Coney Island and Sandy Hook.
The only contemporary account of the murder was a journal kept by the first mate,Robert Juet (sometimes spelled Jouet and Ivet). His only sources were the four survivors of a reconnaissance mission that Colman had commanded, and their version was taken
at face value. Mr Palladino saw a problem right there."In this day and age you wouldn't accept that as an answer,"he said."It doesn't seem that there was any intention to investigate."
Sept 6 was a Sunday.After morning prayers,Hudson dispatched Colman and four Dutch crewmen in a 16-footlong shallop.They ranged as far as 18 miles past sweet-smelling flora to explore what may have been Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay, or even farther north.
Two 40-foot dugout canoes approached, one with 16 Indians and the other with 14. The four Dutch crewmen later said they were "set upon". They were apparently unable to ignite a small cannon because of rain, but probably mustered enough firepower from muskets to frighten the Indians, the historians suggested. The Indians fired arrows pointed with sharp stones. Two crewmen were wounded.Colman, whose chest may have been sheathed in armour, was struck in the neck and bled to death.
The survivors rowed for hours searching for the Half Moon . Finally, at 10am on Sept 7, they returned to the ship with Colman's body. He was buried later that day, either in Coney Island, Staten Island, Sandy Hook or Keansburg, New Jersey, at a spot that Hudson named Colman's Point.
The confusion about a burial site created issues for Mr Pollini."We would have to try and find the body," he said.
"Upon examining the body, we'd find out how exactly he was killed," Mr Pollini said."Was it an arrow the Indians shot, or blunt force by some sort of instrument that was made to look like an Indian arrow by one of the men on the ship who didn't like him?Two other people were injured. They would be key witnesses. We'd examine their injuries and see how they were inflicted. Everyone on the ship would have to be interviewed.Were there any disgruntled employees, any animosity toward him? Was this an opportune time to get rid of him?"
Apparently none of those questions were asked in 1609.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that the answers might have revised the record described by Juet and embellished by historians.
"The many complaints Hudson and Juet made suggest that the Half Moon crew was a typical blend of sociopaths and working men," said Kathleen Hulser, public historian at the New York Historical Society.
Juet, whom Hudson himself described as mean-tempered and whom one historian would call his "evil genius", later led a mutiny against Hudson.
Colman had been recruited by Hudson,apparently as his second mate, after serving as a trusted boatswain on an earlier voyage.Unlike Hudson, he spoke Dutch, although,in a letter to his wife, he contemptuously wrote of the Dutch crew:"Looking at their fat bellies, I fear they think more highly of eating than of sailing."
Only two days before the murder, in the crew's first encounter with the Indians along the river, some came aboard the Half Moon ,"seeming very glad of our coming", Juet wrote.
Still, they were probably wary of the new arrivals. The Indians might have heard of Hudson's crew's actions a few weeks before in Maine where, Juet wrote, the crew dragged the Indians from their homes "and took the spoil of them, as they would have done us".Or perhaps they had heard of the explorer Samuel de Champlain's recent bloody encounter with Indians to the north.
"It might have been retaliation, not aggression," Ms Hulser said.
"I'm sure they were Indians," James Ring Adams, a senior historian at the National Museum of the American Indian, said of the perpetrators."That leaves a question: Was this a renegade band or another tribe possibly based on Staten Island or from farther north on the river?"
Perhaps the two canoes were not a war party, but had approached the small boat offering help. Two nights later, according to Juet, Indians benignly came aboard the Half Moon to trade with the crew without betraying any knowledge of Colman's murder.
"He was English, the crew was Dutch,"said Mr McNeely."You couldn't rule anybody out. We'd detain everybody, including the injured sailors. You couldn't just take the word of somebody else. They could say he was attacked by Indians; it would be easy to make that up. I don't know if that's racial profiling, but it's definitely scapegoating."
Colman's murder inspired a poem by Thomas Frost:
"Then prone he fell within the boat,A flinthead arrow through his throat!"Also, a mural in the Hudson County, New Jersey, courthouse in Jersey City.
"They say a picture is worth a thousand words," Mr Palladino said.
"If we could force that picture to talk, we could crack the case."
It was on Sept 6,1609-400 years ago when this, the first recorded murder in what became metropolitan New York, was committed. Colman was killed only four days after the first Dutch and English sailors had arrived.
"There's a reason it's still a cold case,"said Detective Michael J Palladino, president of the city detectives' union, mulling the scant evidence that remains today.
Some 300 people have been murdered in the city so far in 2009. Typically, half the homicides are solved in the first year and 20% the year after. Relatively few are solved decades after they occur, although some are.So it's about time modern police brains were brought to bear on the murder of John Colman. Some current and former detectives gamely agreed to apply their skills to the case during interviews.
In addition to Mr Palladino, they were Joseph A Pollini, who commanded the Police Department's cold-case homicide squad and now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and William McNeely, a Manhattan South homicide detective. A couple of historians were consulted to add context.
The facts as they are known (maybe):Colman was an accomplished sailor, one of a handful of Englishmen in Henry Hudson's largely Dutch crew of 16. They sailed into New York Harbor early that September on the 85-foot-long Half Moon , searching for a northwest passage to Asia, and anchored somewhere between Coney Island and Sandy Hook.
The only contemporary account of the murder was a journal kept by the first mate,Robert Juet (sometimes spelled Jouet and Ivet). His only sources were the four survivors of a reconnaissance mission that Colman had commanded, and their version was taken
at face value. Mr Palladino saw a problem right there."In this day and age you wouldn't accept that as an answer,"he said."It doesn't seem that there was any intention to investigate."
Sept 6 was a Sunday.After morning prayers,Hudson dispatched Colman and four Dutch crewmen in a 16-footlong shallop.They ranged as far as 18 miles past sweet-smelling flora to explore what may have been Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay, or even farther north.
Two 40-foot dugout canoes approached, one with 16 Indians and the other with 14. The four Dutch crewmen later said they were "set upon". They were apparently unable to ignite a small cannon because of rain, but probably mustered enough firepower from muskets to frighten the Indians, the historians suggested. The Indians fired arrows pointed with sharp stones. Two crewmen were wounded.Colman, whose chest may have been sheathed in armour, was struck in the neck and bled to death.
The survivors rowed for hours searching for the Half Moon . Finally, at 10am on Sept 7, they returned to the ship with Colman's body. He was buried later that day, either in Coney Island, Staten Island, Sandy Hook or Keansburg, New Jersey, at a spot that Hudson named Colman's Point.
The confusion about a burial site created issues for Mr Pollini."We would have to try and find the body," he said.
"Upon examining the body, we'd find out how exactly he was killed," Mr Pollini said."Was it an arrow the Indians shot, or blunt force by some sort of instrument that was made to look like an Indian arrow by one of the men on the ship who didn't like him?Two other people were injured. They would be key witnesses. We'd examine their injuries and see how they were inflicted. Everyone on the ship would have to be interviewed.Were there any disgruntled employees, any animosity toward him? Was this an opportune time to get rid of him?"
Apparently none of those questions were asked in 1609.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that the answers might have revised the record described by Juet and embellished by historians.
"The many complaints Hudson and Juet made suggest that the Half Moon crew was a typical blend of sociopaths and working men," said Kathleen Hulser, public historian at the New York Historical Society.
Juet, whom Hudson himself described as mean-tempered and whom one historian would call his "evil genius", later led a mutiny against Hudson.
Colman had been recruited by Hudson,apparently as his second mate, after serving as a trusted boatswain on an earlier voyage.Unlike Hudson, he spoke Dutch, although,in a letter to his wife, he contemptuously wrote of the Dutch crew:"Looking at their fat bellies, I fear they think more highly of eating than of sailing."
Only two days before the murder, in the crew's first encounter with the Indians along the river, some came aboard the Half Moon ,"seeming very glad of our coming", Juet wrote.
Still, they were probably wary of the new arrivals. The Indians might have heard of Hudson's crew's actions a few weeks before in Maine where, Juet wrote, the crew dragged the Indians from their homes "and took the spoil of them, as they would have done us".Or perhaps they had heard of the explorer Samuel de Champlain's recent bloody encounter with Indians to the north.
"It might have been retaliation, not aggression," Ms Hulser said.
"I'm sure they were Indians," James Ring Adams, a senior historian at the National Museum of the American Indian, said of the perpetrators."That leaves a question: Was this a renegade band or another tribe possibly based on Staten Island or from farther north on the river?"
Perhaps the two canoes were not a war party, but had approached the small boat offering help. Two nights later, according to Juet, Indians benignly came aboard the Half Moon to trade with the crew without betraying any knowledge of Colman's murder.
"He was English, the crew was Dutch,"said Mr McNeely."You couldn't rule anybody out. We'd detain everybody, including the injured sailors. You couldn't just take the word of somebody else. They could say he was attacked by Indians; it would be easy to make that up. I don't know if that's racial profiling, but it's definitely scapegoating."
Colman's murder inspired a poem by Thomas Frost:
"Then prone he fell within the boat,A flinthead arrow through his throat!"Also, a mural in the Hudson County, New Jersey, courthouse in Jersey City.
"They say a picture is worth a thousand words," Mr Palladino said.
"If we could force that picture to talk, we could crack the case."
Friday, September 11, 2009
Solve Cambodia's land crisis in courts, not with bullets
WHEN POLICE opened fire on unarmed farmers protesting confiscation of their land in Siem Reap on March 22 this year, four villagers were seriously wounded. Luon Meng - shot in both thighs - will probably be disabled for life.
Almost six months later, Meng's uncle is still pressing officials to explain why not a single charge has been filed against the police who fired on the farmers or those who ordered them to shoot.
"Soldiers and police should use their guns to protect people, not shoot them," Meng's uncle - a Buddhist monk named Venerable Luon Savath - told me recently.
Photographs and video footage that Savath and others compiled on the incident appear to show dazed and stunned farmers - some with gashes and gaping wounds - tied to poles after the shooting, which took place in the presence of provincial officials.
According to eyewitnesses, the police immediately said that it was legal to shoot the farmers as long as they aimed below the waist.
Instead of investigating the officers who shot the protesters, authorities arrested and jailed eleven of the farmers, who now await trial on robbery charges. This week the provincial court summoned for questioning three of the farmers who were shot - including one still in hospital, who had to be transported to court.
The wounded men now face possible defamation charges, for daring to file a complaint about the incident with the Justice Ministry. Such is the nature of "justice" in Cambodia.
Lawsuits against government critics are the latest in a series of well-worn - and abused - "legal" tactics used by officials and powerful people in Cambodia to silence dissent. Violence is the other tool.
While the crackdown in Siem Reap was one of the most violent confrontations in a land dispute in Cambodia so far this year, it is no isolated incident.
Cambodians across the country are increasingly losing their homes, land and natural resources on which their livelihoods depend to make way for commercial development, agri-business plantations, hydro-electricity dams and mining concessions. In Phnom Penh alone, at least 30,000 urban poor have been forced from their homes in recent years. More than 150,000 people nationwide are at risk of losing their land and their homes.
When communities seek information about land confiscations and peaceful resolution of disputes, they are increasingly met with harassment, intimidation, arrest and violent evictions.
Government officials often deploy heavily armed police and soldiers to force people off their land without court orders or any form of fair hearing for the owners or occupiers of the land.
Authorities have arrested or jailed dozens of activists, often on spurious charges, for defending their land rights.
Most of the Siem Reap farmers driven from their land in March had farmed those fields since the late-1980s. Under Cambodian law, this entitles them to the right to continue farming and eventually obtain title to the land.
Most farmers in Cambodia, however, have yet to obtain formal titles, which often require bribes or political connections. The people now claiming legal "ownership" are well-connected businessmen with the means to call on virtually every state mechanism for support - courts, district and provincial officials, and finally, police and soldiers.
Despite the government issuing more than one million land titles since 2002 in a World Bank-supported project, the vast majority of Cambodia's urban and rural poor have been excluded. A World Bank review of the US$24 million (Bt819 million) programme released this week called on the government to remedy the fact that "some land areas have been excluded from titling without clear criteria or explanation provided to the local communities".
The urgency of Cambodia's land crisis prompted a rare public appeal recently from development partners. In July, the World Bank, the UN, the Asian Development Bank, the European Commission, the Swedish International Development Agency and several embassies called on the government to stop forced evictions until fair and transparent land dispute and resettlement mechanisms are in place.
The Cambodian government has not only ignored such appeals, but rebuffed them.
On Monday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the termination of the World Bank's land-titling project. The reason, he said, was that the partnership with the World Bank was "difficult and complicated" and "had too many conditions".
The government has become as impervious to the humanitarian appeals of its international donors as it is to the plight of its poorest citizens. But there is growing awareness among the poor of their rights under local and international law.
On Thursday [Sept 10], farmers representing tens of thousands of people nationwide gathered in Phnom Penh, seeking responses to land rights complaints they submitted a month ago. Many of these people will now face threats to their personal security, as well as spurious legal battles that could land them in prison.
Rather than filing lawsuits against or opening fire on land-rights activists, the government should resolve these complaints.
Land disputes should be settled in an independent court, not by armed police and soldiers. Ownership should be determined by Cambodia's Land Law, rather than wealth and political connections. Until authorities can properly implement and respect Cambodia's Land Law, the government should enact a moratorium on forced evictions.
The government should also ensure the safety of peaceful land-rights advocates such as Sovath, whose calls for justice have been met by threats and intimidation. Soldiers threatened to storm his temple to confiscate the video he compiled of the shooting and its aftermath.
The Siem Reap crackdown caused villagers to go into hiding, fearful of being shot or arrested.
"Many farmers fled, leaving their cooking pots behind," Savath told me. All they had was fear, frustration and empty stomachs. They struggled to hide from local authorities, police and soldiers, who neither respect nor fear the law or human rights because they have power."
Unarmed farmers being shot and city dwellers being forced from their homes at gunpoint are grim reminders of the country's past under the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s. This is not what international donors have in mind when they make annual pledges to cover more than half of Cambodia's national budget.
Savath laments the difficulties faced by landless villages throughout Cambodia: "Now when farmers raise their voices about loss of their land, they are threatened, jailed, or brought to court and sued."
In his home province of Siem Reap, the situation has turned grim.
"The farmers' paddy fields used to be busy," he said. "The sound was sweet and joyful with farmers singing, laughing and dancing to deal with the hard work. Now the fields are for weeping. They are grief-stricken places. This is because the rich have collaborated with the powerful to take the land."
Almost six months later, Meng's uncle is still pressing officials to explain why not a single charge has been filed against the police who fired on the farmers or those who ordered them to shoot.
"Soldiers and police should use their guns to protect people, not shoot them," Meng's uncle - a Buddhist monk named Venerable Luon Savath - told me recently.
Photographs and video footage that Savath and others compiled on the incident appear to show dazed and stunned farmers - some with gashes and gaping wounds - tied to poles after the shooting, which took place in the presence of provincial officials.
According to eyewitnesses, the police immediately said that it was legal to shoot the farmers as long as they aimed below the waist.
Instead of investigating the officers who shot the protesters, authorities arrested and jailed eleven of the farmers, who now await trial on robbery charges. This week the provincial court summoned for questioning three of the farmers who were shot - including one still in hospital, who had to be transported to court.
The wounded men now face possible defamation charges, for daring to file a complaint about the incident with the Justice Ministry. Such is the nature of "justice" in Cambodia.
Lawsuits against government critics are the latest in a series of well-worn - and abused - "legal" tactics used by officials and powerful people in Cambodia to silence dissent. Violence is the other tool.
While the crackdown in Siem Reap was one of the most violent confrontations in a land dispute in Cambodia so far this year, it is no isolated incident.
Cambodians across the country are increasingly losing their homes, land and natural resources on which their livelihoods depend to make way for commercial development, agri-business plantations, hydro-electricity dams and mining concessions. In Phnom Penh alone, at least 30,000 urban poor have been forced from their homes in recent years. More than 150,000 people nationwide are at risk of losing their land and their homes.
When communities seek information about land confiscations and peaceful resolution of disputes, they are increasingly met with harassment, intimidation, arrest and violent evictions.
Government officials often deploy heavily armed police and soldiers to force people off their land without court orders or any form of fair hearing for the owners or occupiers of the land.
Authorities have arrested or jailed dozens of activists, often on spurious charges, for defending their land rights.
Most of the Siem Reap farmers driven from their land in March had farmed those fields since the late-1980s. Under Cambodian law, this entitles them to the right to continue farming and eventually obtain title to the land.
Most farmers in Cambodia, however, have yet to obtain formal titles, which often require bribes or political connections. The people now claiming legal "ownership" are well-connected businessmen with the means to call on virtually every state mechanism for support - courts, district and provincial officials, and finally, police and soldiers.
Despite the government issuing more than one million land titles since 2002 in a World Bank-supported project, the vast majority of Cambodia's urban and rural poor have been excluded. A World Bank review of the US$24 million (Bt819 million) programme released this week called on the government to remedy the fact that "some land areas have been excluded from titling without clear criteria or explanation provided to the local communities".
The urgency of Cambodia's land crisis prompted a rare public appeal recently from development partners. In July, the World Bank, the UN, the Asian Development Bank, the European Commission, the Swedish International Development Agency and several embassies called on the government to stop forced evictions until fair and transparent land dispute and resettlement mechanisms are in place.
The Cambodian government has not only ignored such appeals, but rebuffed them.
On Monday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the termination of the World Bank's land-titling project. The reason, he said, was that the partnership with the World Bank was "difficult and complicated" and "had too many conditions".
The government has become as impervious to the humanitarian appeals of its international donors as it is to the plight of its poorest citizens. But there is growing awareness among the poor of their rights under local and international law.
On Thursday [Sept 10], farmers representing tens of thousands of people nationwide gathered in Phnom Penh, seeking responses to land rights complaints they submitted a month ago. Many of these people will now face threats to their personal security, as well as spurious legal battles that could land them in prison.
Rather than filing lawsuits against or opening fire on land-rights activists, the government should resolve these complaints.
Land disputes should be settled in an independent court, not by armed police and soldiers. Ownership should be determined by Cambodia's Land Law, rather than wealth and political connections. Until authorities can properly implement and respect Cambodia's Land Law, the government should enact a moratorium on forced evictions.
The government should also ensure the safety of peaceful land-rights advocates such as Sovath, whose calls for justice have been met by threats and intimidation. Soldiers threatened to storm his temple to confiscate the video he compiled of the shooting and its aftermath.
The Siem Reap crackdown caused villagers to go into hiding, fearful of being shot or arrested.
"Many farmers fled, leaving their cooking pots behind," Savath told me. All they had was fear, frustration and empty stomachs. They struggled to hide from local authorities, police and soldiers, who neither respect nor fear the law or human rights because they have power."
Unarmed farmers being shot and city dwellers being forced from their homes at gunpoint are grim reminders of the country's past under the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s. This is not what international donors have in mind when they make annual pledges to cover more than half of Cambodia's national budget.
Savath laments the difficulties faced by landless villages throughout Cambodia: "Now when farmers raise their voices about loss of their land, they are threatened, jailed, or brought to court and sued."
In his home province of Siem Reap, the situation has turned grim.
"The farmers' paddy fields used to be busy," he said. "The sound was sweet and joyful with farmers singing, laughing and dancing to deal with the hard work. Now the fields are for weeping. They are grief-stricken places. This is because the rich have collaborated with the powerful to take the land."
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Calderon removes his top drug war official
Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday removed his attorney-general who had spearheaded the government's anti-drug campaign that has so far failed to defeat powerful cartels.
Mr Calderon told reporters that Eduardo Medina Mora had resigned and would be replaced by a relatively unknown former law enforcement official. He gave no details about the reasons for the move.
A crackdown by thousands of troops and federal police has been unable to bring warring rival mafias to heel.
More than 13,000 people have died in drug violence since Mr Calderon took office in late 2006.
He has staked his presidency on the war against the drug cartels and the US has backed him by promising $1.4 billion in aid such as training and equipment for Mexican security forces.
But the drug cartels are killing about 20 people a day in Mexico, often after torturing them, and traffickers have infiltrated many state and municipal police forces.
The outgoing attorney-general admitted "successes and errors like in all human endeavours" but defended Mr Calderon's campaign against drug gangs like the rival Sinaloa and Gulf cartels.
"The historic decision to limit the power of criminal organisations with all the power of the state was fundamental for our future as a nation," Mr Medina Mora said. He will be replaced by Arturo Chavez, a former official with the attorney-general's office.
Mr Calderon told reporters that Eduardo Medina Mora had resigned and would be replaced by a relatively unknown former law enforcement official. He gave no details about the reasons for the move.
A crackdown by thousands of troops and federal police has been unable to bring warring rival mafias to heel.
More than 13,000 people have died in drug violence since Mr Calderon took office in late 2006.
He has staked his presidency on the war against the drug cartels and the US has backed him by promising $1.4 billion in aid such as training and equipment for Mexican security forces.
But the drug cartels are killing about 20 people a day in Mexico, often after torturing them, and traffickers have infiltrated many state and municipal police forces.
The outgoing attorney-general admitted "successes and errors like in all human endeavours" but defended Mr Calderon's campaign against drug gangs like the rival Sinaloa and Gulf cartels.
"The historic decision to limit the power of criminal organisations with all the power of the state was fundamental for our future as a nation," Mr Medina Mora said. He will be replaced by Arturo Chavez, a former official with the attorney-general's office.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
"Rumours" fuel needle scare
China's troubled far-western city of Urumqi has spelt out potential punishments for spreading rumours after days of sometimes deadly unrest and panic about reported syringe attacks that fanned ethnic tensions.
Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region,has been struggling to return to order after days of panic and protests over claims that Muslim Uighurs used syringes to attack residents, especially members of China's Han ethnic Chinese majority.
Officials have said five people died in the protests, but they have not said how they died.
Security forces used tear gas to break up a crowd of Han Chinese on Sunday,after a fresh needle scare near a wholesale market. Witnesses said three Uighurs were beaten.
The government has cast the alleged syringe attacks as a separatist plot by Uighurs, who call Xinjiang their home-land. Many Uighurs resent government controls on their religion and culture,as well as the growing presence of ethnic Han Chinese.
The Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday that Urumqi authorities said anyone found guilty of injecting others with dangerous substances could face a long prison term or even the death penalty.
Authorities also warned residents they could be jailed for spreading rumours.
"Those who deliberately concoct and spread false information about innocent members of the public being stabbed with needles" could be tried and sentenced to up to five years in jail, it said.
The announcement appeared to be another step in government efforts to restore its authority in Urumqi, after thousands of Han residents took to the streets to demand the ousting of Wang Lequan, the Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang for 14 years.
Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region,has been struggling to return to order after days of panic and protests over claims that Muslim Uighurs used syringes to attack residents, especially members of China's Han ethnic Chinese majority.
Officials have said five people died in the protests, but they have not said how they died.
Security forces used tear gas to break up a crowd of Han Chinese on Sunday,after a fresh needle scare near a wholesale market. Witnesses said three Uighurs were beaten.
The government has cast the alleged syringe attacks as a separatist plot by Uighurs, who call Xinjiang their home-land. Many Uighurs resent government controls on their religion and culture,as well as the growing presence of ethnic Han Chinese.
The Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday that Urumqi authorities said anyone found guilty of injecting others with dangerous substances could face a long prison term or even the death penalty.
Authorities also warned residents they could be jailed for spreading rumours.
"Those who deliberately concoct and spread false information about innocent members of the public being stabbed with needles" could be tried and sentenced to up to five years in jail, it said.
The announcement appeared to be another step in government efforts to restore its authority in Urumqi, after thousands of Han residents took to the streets to demand the ousting of Wang Lequan, the Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang for 14 years.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Numbers game turns deadly
Makers of fake car number plates in Songkhla are facing a crackdown on suspicions their plates are being used on vehicles connected to car bomb attacks in the far South, a security source says.
Investigators have zeroed in on two fake plate makers in the commercial district of Hat Yai.
Fake licence plates make it more difficult for police to track down the attackers.
Many insurgents are reported to be hiding out in Songkhla's lower districts of Saba Yoi, Chana, Thepha and Na Thawi, the source said.
They are believed to have fled from neighbouring Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces to evade arrest after launching their deadly attacks, he said.
A member of a police bomb disposal squad said a new pattern of attacks was emerging in which militants were preferring to target populated areas, often in town centres, using powerful bombs aimed at causing heavy casualties.
The source said the aim was to gain maximum exposure and media attention.
The rebels are using all sorts of tricks to get the job done. For instance, in one attack a militant pretended to drop a wallet connected to a bomb detonation cord.
A passer-by picked up the wallet and triggered the bomb.
"This is a new trick as we have never heard of or seen anything like this before,"the source said.
In Friday's bomb attack outside a crowded restaurant in central Pattani,the source said the bomb was loaded on to a motorcycle-mounted pushcart popu-lar for moving goods around a market.No one suspected it carried a bomb. The blast killed a man and injured 29 others.
The source said setting off "spider bombs"- or a handful of explosives connected to a single remote control device - was now quite common in the South.
The current Muslim fasting period is marked by rising insurgent violence.
The insurgents appear to have intensified their violence because it is easier to single out Buddhist Thais for attack during Ramadan as their Muslim neighbours are mostly indoors performing religious activities.
Yesterday, in Pattani, a defence volunteer was shot and injured by a gunman at the Sue Dang School in tambon Troh Bon, Sai Buri district.
Kampanart Songkaew,24, was attacked while he was guarding the school.The gunman fled when he returned fire.
Investigators have zeroed in on two fake plate makers in the commercial district of Hat Yai.
Fake licence plates make it more difficult for police to track down the attackers.
Many insurgents are reported to be hiding out in Songkhla's lower districts of Saba Yoi, Chana, Thepha and Na Thawi, the source said.
They are believed to have fled from neighbouring Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces to evade arrest after launching their deadly attacks, he said.
A member of a police bomb disposal squad said a new pattern of attacks was emerging in which militants were preferring to target populated areas, often in town centres, using powerful bombs aimed at causing heavy casualties.
The source said the aim was to gain maximum exposure and media attention.
The rebels are using all sorts of tricks to get the job done. For instance, in one attack a militant pretended to drop a wallet connected to a bomb detonation cord.
A passer-by picked up the wallet and triggered the bomb.
"This is a new trick as we have never heard of or seen anything like this before,"the source said.
In Friday's bomb attack outside a crowded restaurant in central Pattani,the source said the bomb was loaded on to a motorcycle-mounted pushcart popu-lar for moving goods around a market.No one suspected it carried a bomb. The blast killed a man and injured 29 others.
The source said setting off "spider bombs"- or a handful of explosives connected to a single remote control device - was now quite common in the South.
The current Muslim fasting period is marked by rising insurgent violence.
The insurgents appear to have intensified their violence because it is easier to single out Buddhist Thais for attack during Ramadan as their Muslim neighbours are mostly indoors performing religious activities.
Yesterday, in Pattani, a defence volunteer was shot and injured by a gunman at the Sue Dang School in tambon Troh Bon, Sai Buri district.
Kampanart Songkaew,24, was attacked while he was guarding the school.The gunman fled when he returned fire.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
HOW JESSICA"S LAW TURNED ANTIOCH INTO A PAEDOPHILE GHETTO
Antioch is one of the few places in California where convicted sex offenders can legally reside. Was the strain of monitoring them all too much for the local police? By Guy Adams
They have called it scruffy, cheap and unloved. They have sneered at the wire mesh fences and unmowed lawns and the rusting trucks in almost every driveway.And in time, when the media writes the final chapters of the appalling story of Jaycee Lee Dugard, they may very well conclude that in Antioch, her story was simply an accident waiting to happen.
A staggering 122 registered sex offenders live there, in a small, blue-collar city in northern California that has suddenly found itself at the centre of an international media storm.More than 100 of them -102, to be precise - live in the compact zip-code area containing the suburb that Jaycee Lee's alleged kidnapper,Phillip Craig Garrido, called home.
Two convicted rapists reside on Vine Lane,the street next to Walnut Avenue where Jaycee Lee's imprisonment and sexual abuse went unnoticed for almost two decades. On Viera Avenue, less than 200 metres away, is the home of Henry Lee Mickens, a 46-year-old man who recently served time for "lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years".
Dozens of other paedophiles can be found within walking distance. A mile and a half from Garrido's front door is Gragnelli Avenue,where the occupant of No 420, one Shayne Patrick Gaxiola, was convicted of molesting a 12-year-old girl and impregnating her in 1994,when he was aged 20.
Gaxiola was also found guilty of giving marijuana to a string of pubescent girls. He then took indecent pictures of them. In 2000, three months after his release, he was sent back to prison for violating parole after being caught with cannabis and a stash of pornographic magazines.
In a town full of such men, the activities of Phillip Garrido seemed simply to slip below the radar - despite the awful track record that has emerged since he and his wife, Nancy,were arrested and charged with 29 counts related to Jaycee Lee Dugard's abduction, imprisonment, and serial sexual abuse over 18 years (to which, it must be stressed, they have so far pleaded not guilty).
Court papers released from Garrido's 1977 trial for the kidnap and rape of a young woman in Nevada portray him as a dangerous sexual predator. During a psychiatric evaluation, he admitted to using LSD and cocaine as sexual stimulants and said that he would often masturbate in public, by the "side of schools,grammar schools and high schools, and in my own car while I was watching young females".
There is, however, no shortage of similar stories in Antioch. That is perhaps why, after Garrido was released in 1988,10 years into a 50- year sentence, he and his wife were able to slip virtually unnoticed into the fabric of this community, which stretches for roughly four miles along the Sacramento River.
At first glance, Antioch may look like any other small American city. Its 100,000 residents are largely white and working class. Some work in industrial plants. Others are commuters, unable to afford the cost of living in the San Francisco Bay area. In keeping with most of California, about 10% are unemployed.
Yet as police continue to investigate Garrido's past and look into potential links to 10 murdered prostitutes and three missing girls, the city is being forced to confront a grisly truth - for reasons largely beyond its control, it has become a paedophiles' ghetto.
At fault are laws governing America's treatment of sex offenders, which control where they are allowed to live and how much information the public should be given regarding their whereabouts. These laws were passed with the laudable intention of protecting children. But their actual effect is open to debate.
The most prominent is Megan's Law, which requires the public to be given access, usually via an internet site, to the names, addresses and "previous" of every man and woman convicted of a sexual offence. It is a wellintentioned exercise in open government. But in practice, critics say, it was introduced in such a way as to be of little help to anyone but the voyeuristic.
"Thanks to political pressure, they made the criteria for including someone on the registry so wide that it has become totally ineffective," says Michael Risher, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union."It doesn't just carry details of violent rapists but also people who, say, lost their temper during a road rage incident and flashed at someone, or an 18-year-old boy convicted of statutory rape for sleeping with his 17-year-old girlfriend."
In California, the Megan's Law website contains 90,000 entries. Given this extraordinary statistic, it isn't hard to see why the residents of Walnut Avenue - who had 121 other convicted sex offenders in their city to worry about - might have allowed a man with Garrido's dubious profile to pass largely ignored.
The second group of laws that make Antioch a magnet for paedophiles governs where they are allowed to live. In California, as in many states, voters have in recent years endorsed Jessica's Law, which bans paedophiles from residing within 2,000 feet of a school or a park where children regularly play.
This has driven sex offenders out of major cities and conurbations, where they have access to rehabilitation and treatment facilities, and into suburbs and secluded rural areas, where they don't. In some smaller cities, they have now become concentrated in such large numbers that parole and law enforcement officers are unable to properly vet them.
This may explain why local authorities never noticed that Garrido was apparently keeping the kidnapped Jaycee Lee Dugard and her two small children concealed in the elaborate series of sheds and tents in his back garden.Thanks to the influx of offenders to Antioch frommajor cities, they were simply too overstretched to do their job properly.
It may also explain - but not necessarily excuse - the fact that a police officer dispatched to investigate claims of children living in Garrido's garden in 2006 seemingly did not have either the time or the wherewithal to thoroughly research his suspect's background.
"If you look at maps that show where offenders are actually able to live under Jessica's Law, there's almost nowhere in the whole of Los Angeles and San Francisco where they can now legally settle," Mr Risher adds."Everywhere is within 2,000 feet of a park or school.So they all end up in places like Antioch."
Even police admit that this leaves them struggling to cope. Daniel Terry, from the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department,which oversees Antioch, has about 1,700 registered sex offenders in his jurisdiction. His station is responsible for about 350 of them,or "349 more than the number of detectives I have dedicated to monitoring these people".
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times last week,he said that the region's concentration of sex offenders was "significantly higher" than other areas in California and the rest of the United States."This is the reality. These people are walking amongst us everywhere." Adding to his woes are wider problems in the cheap parts of Antioch where Garrido and many other convicted sex offenders live. In the ramshackle area around Walnut Avenue, petty theft is rampant, drug abuse endemic - the favourite local tipples are crystal meth and crack cocaine - and lawns are littered with junk.
The city, which grew prosperous on the proceeds of the 1849 gold rush and then the steel mills and concrete factories that allowed it to ship the building blocks of San Francisco down-river during the early 20th century, is now among those caught in the storm of America's economic downturn.
Nearly 2,500 homes, roughly 5% of the city's stock, are in foreclosure, with 699 new homes entering arrears last month.
Property values have dropped 40% in the past year and unemployment is soaring. Garrido's bungalow, a four-bedroom home built on a large plot of land between the wars, is worth only $100,000.
Against this background, and helped by laws that encourage ghetto-isation of sex offenders, it now seems that a man known as "Creepy Phil" by neighbours was able to take a little girl hostage, hold her for 18 years, father her two children, and even take them to community events, while barely raising an eyebrow.
In January, Zion Dutro, a convicted child rapist who lived on Alpha Way, not two miles from Walnut Avenue, appeared in court to plead not guilty to performing rape, sodomy and "lewd acts" on at least eight small girls. He faced 21 counts; his wife, a co-defendant, faced four.
In any other town, this kind of case would have sparked a mixture of shock and outrage that would be heard across the world. In Antioch, it merited no more than a few paragraphs in the local newspaper - a reaction which suggests that Jaycee Lee Dugard may not be the last grisly secret that the city reveals.The Independent
SEX OFFENDERS' R REGISTER: MEGAN'S AND JESSICA'S LAWS
MEGAN'S LAW requires the public to be given details sregarding the identity,whereabouts and crimin al record of convicted sex offenders living in their midst. It was named afte er the New Jersey schoolgi irl Megan Kanka, who was kidnapped, raped and kil lled by a serial sex-offender i in 1994. Today, it's being enacted to varying degre ees in every US state.Like any law passed in response to a public trag gedy,the law has been dubbed dknee-jerk by opponents,who say it encourages vigilantism and is an infringement on the civil liberties of ex-offenders.. A study last year conclude dthat the law achieved no odemonstrable reduction in child sex offences.
JESSICA'S LAW prevents convicted sex offenders from living within a certain distance of schools,parks and other areas where children gather. It was first adopted in Florida in 2005 after nineyear-old Jessica Lunsford was snatched from her home, before being raped and murdered by a convicted paedophile. Today, a version is in force in 42 US states. Critics say it has made major cities off-limits to offenders, forcing some to declare themselves homeless, and ghettoising others. There is little evidence that it works. Many police forces say it has the opposite effect stretching resources and doing nothing to prevent paedophiles travelling to commit crimes.
They have called it scruffy, cheap and unloved. They have sneered at the wire mesh fences and unmowed lawns and the rusting trucks in almost every driveway.And in time, when the media writes the final chapters of the appalling story of Jaycee Lee Dugard, they may very well conclude that in Antioch, her story was simply an accident waiting to happen.
A staggering 122 registered sex offenders live there, in a small, blue-collar city in northern California that has suddenly found itself at the centre of an international media storm.More than 100 of them -102, to be precise - live in the compact zip-code area containing the suburb that Jaycee Lee's alleged kidnapper,Phillip Craig Garrido, called home.
Two convicted rapists reside on Vine Lane,the street next to Walnut Avenue where Jaycee Lee's imprisonment and sexual abuse went unnoticed for almost two decades. On Viera Avenue, less than 200 metres away, is the home of Henry Lee Mickens, a 46-year-old man who recently served time for "lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years".
Dozens of other paedophiles can be found within walking distance. A mile and a half from Garrido's front door is Gragnelli Avenue,where the occupant of No 420, one Shayne Patrick Gaxiola, was convicted of molesting a 12-year-old girl and impregnating her in 1994,when he was aged 20.
Gaxiola was also found guilty of giving marijuana to a string of pubescent girls. He then took indecent pictures of them. In 2000, three months after his release, he was sent back to prison for violating parole after being caught with cannabis and a stash of pornographic magazines.
In a town full of such men, the activities of Phillip Garrido seemed simply to slip below the radar - despite the awful track record that has emerged since he and his wife, Nancy,were arrested and charged with 29 counts related to Jaycee Lee Dugard's abduction, imprisonment, and serial sexual abuse over 18 years (to which, it must be stressed, they have so far pleaded not guilty).
Court papers released from Garrido's 1977 trial for the kidnap and rape of a young woman in Nevada portray him as a dangerous sexual predator. During a psychiatric evaluation, he admitted to using LSD and cocaine as sexual stimulants and said that he would often masturbate in public, by the "side of schools,grammar schools and high schools, and in my own car while I was watching young females".
There is, however, no shortage of similar stories in Antioch. That is perhaps why, after Garrido was released in 1988,10 years into a 50- year sentence, he and his wife were able to slip virtually unnoticed into the fabric of this community, which stretches for roughly four miles along the Sacramento River.
At first glance, Antioch may look like any other small American city. Its 100,000 residents are largely white and working class. Some work in industrial plants. Others are commuters, unable to afford the cost of living in the San Francisco Bay area. In keeping with most of California, about 10% are unemployed.
Yet as police continue to investigate Garrido's past and look into potential links to 10 murdered prostitutes and three missing girls, the city is being forced to confront a grisly truth - for reasons largely beyond its control, it has become a paedophiles' ghetto.
At fault are laws governing America's treatment of sex offenders, which control where they are allowed to live and how much information the public should be given regarding their whereabouts. These laws were passed with the laudable intention of protecting children. But their actual effect is open to debate.
The most prominent is Megan's Law, which requires the public to be given access, usually via an internet site, to the names, addresses and "previous" of every man and woman convicted of a sexual offence. It is a wellintentioned exercise in open government. But in practice, critics say, it was introduced in such a way as to be of little help to anyone but the voyeuristic.
"Thanks to political pressure, they made the criteria for including someone on the registry so wide that it has become totally ineffective," says Michael Risher, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union."It doesn't just carry details of violent rapists but also people who, say, lost their temper during a road rage incident and flashed at someone, or an 18-year-old boy convicted of statutory rape for sleeping with his 17-year-old girlfriend."
In California, the Megan's Law website contains 90,000 entries. Given this extraordinary statistic, it isn't hard to see why the residents of Walnut Avenue - who had 121 other convicted sex offenders in their city to worry about - might have allowed a man with Garrido's dubious profile to pass largely ignored.
The second group of laws that make Antioch a magnet for paedophiles governs where they are allowed to live. In California, as in many states, voters have in recent years endorsed Jessica's Law, which bans paedophiles from residing within 2,000 feet of a school or a park where children regularly play.
This has driven sex offenders out of major cities and conurbations, where they have access to rehabilitation and treatment facilities, and into suburbs and secluded rural areas, where they don't. In some smaller cities, they have now become concentrated in such large numbers that parole and law enforcement officers are unable to properly vet them.
This may explain why local authorities never noticed that Garrido was apparently keeping the kidnapped Jaycee Lee Dugard and her two small children concealed in the elaborate series of sheds and tents in his back garden.Thanks to the influx of offenders to Antioch frommajor cities, they were simply too overstretched to do their job properly.
It may also explain - but not necessarily excuse - the fact that a police officer dispatched to investigate claims of children living in Garrido's garden in 2006 seemingly did not have either the time or the wherewithal to thoroughly research his suspect's background.
"If you look at maps that show where offenders are actually able to live under Jessica's Law, there's almost nowhere in the whole of Los Angeles and San Francisco where they can now legally settle," Mr Risher adds."Everywhere is within 2,000 feet of a park or school.So they all end up in places like Antioch."
Even police admit that this leaves them struggling to cope. Daniel Terry, from the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department,which oversees Antioch, has about 1,700 registered sex offenders in his jurisdiction. His station is responsible for about 350 of them,or "349 more than the number of detectives I have dedicated to monitoring these people".
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times last week,he said that the region's concentration of sex offenders was "significantly higher" than other areas in California and the rest of the United States."This is the reality. These people are walking amongst us everywhere." Adding to his woes are wider problems in the cheap parts of Antioch where Garrido and many other convicted sex offenders live. In the ramshackle area around Walnut Avenue, petty theft is rampant, drug abuse endemic - the favourite local tipples are crystal meth and crack cocaine - and lawns are littered with junk.
The city, which grew prosperous on the proceeds of the 1849 gold rush and then the steel mills and concrete factories that allowed it to ship the building blocks of San Francisco down-river during the early 20th century, is now among those caught in the storm of America's economic downturn.
Nearly 2,500 homes, roughly 5% of the city's stock, are in foreclosure, with 699 new homes entering arrears last month.
Property values have dropped 40% in the past year and unemployment is soaring. Garrido's bungalow, a four-bedroom home built on a large plot of land between the wars, is worth only $100,000.
Against this background, and helped by laws that encourage ghetto-isation of sex offenders, it now seems that a man known as "Creepy Phil" by neighbours was able to take a little girl hostage, hold her for 18 years, father her two children, and even take them to community events, while barely raising an eyebrow.
In January, Zion Dutro, a convicted child rapist who lived on Alpha Way, not two miles from Walnut Avenue, appeared in court to plead not guilty to performing rape, sodomy and "lewd acts" on at least eight small girls. He faced 21 counts; his wife, a co-defendant, faced four.
In any other town, this kind of case would have sparked a mixture of shock and outrage that would be heard across the world. In Antioch, it merited no more than a few paragraphs in the local newspaper - a reaction which suggests that Jaycee Lee Dugard may not be the last grisly secret that the city reveals.The Independent
SEX OFFENDERS' R REGISTER: MEGAN'S AND JESSICA'S LAWS
MEGAN'S LAW requires the public to be given details sregarding the identity,whereabouts and crimin al record of convicted sex offenders living in their midst. It was named afte er the New Jersey schoolgi irl Megan Kanka, who was kidnapped, raped and kil lled by a serial sex-offender i in 1994. Today, it's being enacted to varying degre ees in every US state.Like any law passed in response to a public trag gedy,the law has been dubbed dknee-jerk by opponents,who say it encourages vigilantism and is an infringement on the civil liberties of ex-offenders.. A study last year conclude dthat the law achieved no odemonstrable reduction in child sex offences.
JESSICA'S LAW prevents convicted sex offenders from living within a certain distance of schools,parks and other areas where children gather. It was first adopted in Florida in 2005 after nineyear-old Jessica Lunsford was snatched from her home, before being raped and murdered by a convicted paedophile. Today, a version is in force in 42 US states. Critics say it has made major cities off-limits to offenders, forcing some to declare themselves homeless, and ghettoising others. There is little evidence that it works. Many police forces say it has the opposite effect stretching resources and doing nothing to prevent paedophiles travelling to commit crimes.
Friday, September 4, 2009
ALLEGATION AGAINST PHILIP MORRIS "HARD TO PROVE"
Customs officer Yuttana Yimkarun admitted yesterday that it was difficult to prove if tobacco giant Philip Morris (Thailand) had understated the price of cigarettes to keep its excise-tax payments low.
He noted that, in practice, the Customs Department accepts prices stated by importers and makes comparisons later on. However, he said, it was difficult to compare prices because Philip Morris (Thailand) was the sole importer and distributor of Marlboro and L&M cigarettes.
His comment followed the Department of Special Investigation's declaration that Philip Morris (Thailand) had understated the cost, insurance and freight price of the products imported from the Philippines. The DSI said that by doing this, Philip Morris had evaded
tax payments worth Bt69 billion. The DSI named 14 parties in the case, and the Office of the Attorney-General will decide on October 2 on whether it should launch a court proceeding.
"If the cost is deemed to be higher, the DSI has to prove that the stated prices are too low," he said, adding that it was inappropriate for the DSI to compare the stated prices with retail prices in duty-free shops.
He added that in 2000 the Customs Department had accused the company of understating the price and the issue was resolved later. The stated price then was higher than the current rate, he added.
Since 2000, Philip Morris has been stating a lower price, saying that it was the actual cost in line with the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), he said.
Philip Morris (Thailand) has also filed a petition with the International Court of Justice in the Hague against the Customs Department's requirement for an increase in the stated price as well as the price disclosure rules. It said this was a sort of protectionism under the World Trade Organisation rules.
He noted that, in practice, the Customs Department accepts prices stated by importers and makes comparisons later on. However, he said, it was difficult to compare prices because Philip Morris (Thailand) was the sole importer and distributor of Marlboro and L&M cigarettes.
His comment followed the Department of Special Investigation's declaration that Philip Morris (Thailand) had understated the cost, insurance and freight price of the products imported from the Philippines. The DSI said that by doing this, Philip Morris had evaded
tax payments worth Bt69 billion. The DSI named 14 parties in the case, and the Office of the Attorney-General will decide on October 2 on whether it should launch a court proceeding.
"If the cost is deemed to be higher, the DSI has to prove that the stated prices are too low," he said, adding that it was inappropriate for the DSI to compare the stated prices with retail prices in duty-free shops.
He added that in 2000 the Customs Department had accused the company of understating the price and the issue was resolved later. The stated price then was higher than the current rate, he added.
Since 2000, Philip Morris has been stating a lower price, saying that it was the actual cost in line with the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), he said.
Philip Morris (Thailand) has also filed a petition with the International Court of Justice in the Hague against the Customs Department's requirement for an increase in the stated price as well as the price disclosure rules. It said this was a sort of protectionism under the World Trade Organisation rules.
At least 40 die in Mexico drug violence
A surge in drug-related violence has seen at least 40 people killed in the troubled northern border region and President Felipe Calderon's home state.
At least 18 people were killed and five wounded on Wednesday when gunmen stormed into a drug treatment centre in northern Mexico's violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez.
Civil protection officials warned there might be more victims from the shootout.The city lies just across the border from El Paso, Texas, where feuding drug cartels are engaged in a violent struggle.
In an eerily similar attack last year,eight people were gunned down at a Mexican clinic treating drug addicts.
Wednesday's slaughter came after 21 people were killed in drug-related violence in Chihuahua state; and the number two security official in Mr Calderon's home state of Michoacan was gunned down.
Jose Manuel Revuelta had been barely two weeks on the job as deputy director of state security when "he was assassinated together with his two bodyguards"in the state capital Morelia, a state official said on condition of anonymity.
The killing took place just a few hundred metres from Revuelta's office, the official said.
The gunmen were said to have intercepted Revuelta's car in the southern part of Morelia, a city where the notoriously ruthless La Familia drug cartel operates. They work in tandem with a feared group of paramilitaries known as Los Zetas, a group made up of former Mexican soldiers.
Authorities blame La Familia for the deaths of 12 federal police intelligence agents whose bodies were discovered dumped along a road in Michoacan in July.
The group made a dramatic appearance in 2006 when members rolled five decapitated heads onto a nightclub dance floor.
Violence has since been on the increase, despite Mr Calderon deploying thousands of soldiers and federal police to Michoacan in what eventually marked the launch of a nationwide crackdown on drug cartel-driven violence.
Deadly attacks in Michoacan hit a new high after the July arrest of Arnoldo Rueda, an alleged top La Familia operative suspected of managing synthetic drug production and shipping marijuana to the United States.
The killings in Chihuahua state overnight Tuesday to Wednesday included the gruesome find of a man who was decapitated and dismembered.
The remains of the 20-year-old were dumped near a police station in central Ciudad Juarez late on Tuesday, the prosecutor's office said.
Police nearby had found a "threat-ening message" signed by La Linea, a group belonging to the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel, said prosecutors.
Separately, a woman was shot dead in broad daylight on a Ciudad Juarez street, another two people were gunned down in a city restaurant on Wednesday,and nine men were killed in other incidents, officials said.
Other violent deaths were reported across the state, including Nuevo Casas Grandes, about 200km south of Ciudad Juarez, and in the state capital Ciudad Chihuahua.
More than 9,600 people have died in drug-related violence since 2008, despite Mr Calderon's deployment of about 36,000 troops and police across the country to try to stem the bloodshed.
At least 18 people were killed and five wounded on Wednesday when gunmen stormed into a drug treatment centre in northern Mexico's violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez.
Civil protection officials warned there might be more victims from the shootout.The city lies just across the border from El Paso, Texas, where feuding drug cartels are engaged in a violent struggle.
In an eerily similar attack last year,eight people were gunned down at a Mexican clinic treating drug addicts.
Wednesday's slaughter came after 21 people were killed in drug-related violence in Chihuahua state; and the number two security official in Mr Calderon's home state of Michoacan was gunned down.
Jose Manuel Revuelta had been barely two weeks on the job as deputy director of state security when "he was assassinated together with his two bodyguards"in the state capital Morelia, a state official said on condition of anonymity.
The killing took place just a few hundred metres from Revuelta's office, the official said.
The gunmen were said to have intercepted Revuelta's car in the southern part of Morelia, a city where the notoriously ruthless La Familia drug cartel operates. They work in tandem with a feared group of paramilitaries known as Los Zetas, a group made up of former Mexican soldiers.
Authorities blame La Familia for the deaths of 12 federal police intelligence agents whose bodies were discovered dumped along a road in Michoacan in July.
The group made a dramatic appearance in 2006 when members rolled five decapitated heads onto a nightclub dance floor.
Violence has since been on the increase, despite Mr Calderon deploying thousands of soldiers and federal police to Michoacan in what eventually marked the launch of a nationwide crackdown on drug cartel-driven violence.
Deadly attacks in Michoacan hit a new high after the July arrest of Arnoldo Rueda, an alleged top La Familia operative suspected of managing synthetic drug production and shipping marijuana to the United States.
The killings in Chihuahua state overnight Tuesday to Wednesday included the gruesome find of a man who was decapitated and dismembered.
The remains of the 20-year-old were dumped near a police station in central Ciudad Juarez late on Tuesday, the prosecutor's office said.
Police nearby had found a "threat-ening message" signed by La Linea, a group belonging to the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel, said prosecutors.
Separately, a woman was shot dead in broad daylight on a Ciudad Juarez street, another two people were gunned down in a city restaurant on Wednesday,and nine men were killed in other incidents, officials said.
Other violent deaths were reported across the state, including Nuevo Casas Grandes, about 200km south of Ciudad Juarez, and in the state capital Ciudad Chihuahua.
More than 9,600 people have died in drug-related violence since 2008, despite Mr Calderon's deployment of about 36,000 troops and police across the country to try to stem the bloodshed.
Han Chinese march in Xinjiang capital
Protesters massed in the capital of China's far western region of Xinjiang yesterday demanding the ousting of its top official, who faced the crowd amid a scare over syringe stabbings that has reignited ethnic tensions.
The demonstration was a rare public challenge by Han Chinese to the ruling Communist Party in tense Xinjiang,where deadly ethnic strife with Muslim Uighurs broke out in early July.
It also erupted at a sensitive time for China, preparing for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic on Oct 1 with a nationwide security clampdown.
"Resign Wang Lequan, the government is useless!" protesters shouted outside the regional government building in Urumqi, referring to Xinjiang's Communist Party chief, who has held office for 14 years. Others called for his execution.
"Wang Lequan, apologise to the Xinjiang people," they yelled, some of them lobbing bottles and other objects in Mr Wang's direction, a witness said.
He estimated that by early afternoon 3,000 people gathered at the People's Square in central Urumqi. By evening,the streets were empty, he said.
A photograph showed Mr Wang, a round, balding figure, using a micro-phone to address the crowd from a balcony.
The witness said Mr Wang told the crowd that 30 people had been detained over the claimed syringe stabbings.
Other pictures showed people,apparently predominantly Han Chinese,marching through streets, some waving Chinese national flags, as riot police with shields and batons blocked streets.
The official Xinhua news agency said more than 1,000 people were involved in the main protest, which it said began in the morning after claims that a man stabbed a five-year-old girl.
Some witnesses said they saw Uighurs,a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to the region, being beaten by Han Chinese. A resident said he had seen a group of Han Chinese protesters beating a Uighur suspected of carrying out attacks with syringes, but he was rescued by police and taken to hospital.
The Xinjiang health office said that over the past two weeks 476 people have gone to hospitals to report apparent syringe stabbings - 433 of them Han Chinese - and doctors have "found clear syringe marks in 89 cases", regional television reported.
But Nicholas Bequelin, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, said it was still unclear how much truth or rumour lay behind the claims of stabbings.
"These kinds of rumours do happen in China after unrest," said Mr Bequelin,who closely follows developments in Xinjiang."There's always bizarre rumours that spread after violence."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters in Beijing that she had no knowledge of any new riot."But I can tell you that the Chinese government has the ability to maintain social stability," she said.
In Xinjiang's worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in Urumqi on July 5, after taking to the streets to protest against attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in south China in June in which two Uighurs were killed. Han Chinese in Urumqi sought revenge two days later.
Mr Bequelin said the explosion of anger over the claimed syringe attacks had not evaporated.
At least 197 people died in the violence,authorities say.
The demonstration was a rare public challenge by Han Chinese to the ruling Communist Party in tense Xinjiang,where deadly ethnic strife with Muslim Uighurs broke out in early July.
It also erupted at a sensitive time for China, preparing for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic on Oct 1 with a nationwide security clampdown.
"Resign Wang Lequan, the government is useless!" protesters shouted outside the regional government building in Urumqi, referring to Xinjiang's Communist Party chief, who has held office for 14 years. Others called for his execution.
"Wang Lequan, apologise to the Xinjiang people," they yelled, some of them lobbing bottles and other objects in Mr Wang's direction, a witness said.
He estimated that by early afternoon 3,000 people gathered at the People's Square in central Urumqi. By evening,the streets were empty, he said.
A photograph showed Mr Wang, a round, balding figure, using a micro-phone to address the crowd from a balcony.
The witness said Mr Wang told the crowd that 30 people had been detained over the claimed syringe stabbings.
Other pictures showed people,apparently predominantly Han Chinese,marching through streets, some waving Chinese national flags, as riot police with shields and batons blocked streets.
The official Xinhua news agency said more than 1,000 people were involved in the main protest, which it said began in the morning after claims that a man stabbed a five-year-old girl.
Some witnesses said they saw Uighurs,a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to the region, being beaten by Han Chinese. A resident said he had seen a group of Han Chinese protesters beating a Uighur suspected of carrying out attacks with syringes, but he was rescued by police and taken to hospital.
The Xinjiang health office said that over the past two weeks 476 people have gone to hospitals to report apparent syringe stabbings - 433 of them Han Chinese - and doctors have "found clear syringe marks in 89 cases", regional television reported.
But Nicholas Bequelin, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, said it was still unclear how much truth or rumour lay behind the claims of stabbings.
"These kinds of rumours do happen in China after unrest," said Mr Bequelin,who closely follows developments in Xinjiang."There's always bizarre rumours that spread after violence."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters in Beijing that she had no knowledge of any new riot."But I can tell you that the Chinese government has the ability to maintain social stability," she said.
In Xinjiang's worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in Urumqi on July 5, after taking to the streets to protest against attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in south China in June in which two Uighurs were killed. Han Chinese in Urumqi sought revenge two days later.
Mr Bequelin said the explosion of anger over the claimed syringe attacks had not evaporated.
At least 197 people died in the violence,authorities say.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Kidnapped girl's story gives hope to parents
"Giving up is not an option, Part of your heart is walking around somewhere without you."
Patty Wetterling keeps a scrapbook of news clippings about abducted children being reunited with their families years later. It's a source of hope for Ms Wetterling, whose son Jacob was abducted nearly 20 years ago in Minnesota.
Soon, Ms Wetterling will add another child's story to her book: Jaycee Lee Dugard's.
"My heart's smiling," Ms Wetterling said of reports that Ms Dugard had been reunited with her family in California 18 years after she was abducted at age 11."It doesn't happen often enough, but we always have hope in our hearts that it will."
Ms Dugard's case, and others like it, show families whose children have been missing for years that such reunions are possible.
More than 58,000 children are taken in non-family abductions every year in the United States, according to Justice Department estimates. Most of those cases are resolved within the first 24 hours, while an estimated 115 children are victims of real kidnapping - where the child is held, taken a long distance, killed or kept.
Ms Wetterling and some other parents of missing children believe their loved ones still could be out there, just like Ms Dugard.They also know it's unlikely that abducted children will seek help, becoming dependent on their captors.
"These kids don't just come forward on their own, they're most often discovered,"said Ms Wetterling, of St Joseph, Minnesota,who has become a nationally known advocate for missing and exploited children."They build a life. They're told lies. They do what they need to survive. We need to do what we can to find them."
In Arkansas, where six-year-old Morgan Nick went missing in 1995, her mother Colleen has led efforts to keep the case going.She meets with the town's police chief regularly to talk about the case and any new leads,which she says come in weekly.Like Ms Wetterling, Ms Nick started a foundation named after her daughter to support other families and assist in prevention efforts.
When she first heard the news about Ms Dugard,Ms Nick's office phone started ringing. Then her cell phone. All the other parents she had worked with through the years shared in the joy - Ms Dugard had reaffirmed that working to find their missing children was worth it, she said.
"Early on, people said,'It's been too long,maybe you should face reality.' But my reality is my little girl is missing. Giving up is not an option," Ms Nick said."Part of your heart is walking around somewhere without you."
Ms Dugard's reunion with her family is now one of the cases Hilary Sessions will cite as she explains to people why she's still looking for her daughter, Tiffany, who vanished on her college campus in 1989.
The Elizabeth Smart case in Utah and the Shawn Hornbeck case in Missouri also gave her reason to keep looking while some people were telling her to move on.
"They think I'm crazy for keeping up the hope," said Ms Sessions, of Florida.
It's been 20 years since Ms Sessions last saw Tiffany, but she said she heard of a case in Canada where a woman was held in captivity even longer than Ms Dugard before being reunited with her mother.
"The mother stayed in the same house,hoping that her daughter would come home,"she said."I'm still in my same house."
While Ms Dugard turned out to be alive,hearing details about her captivity was painful for some families with missing children.
Victor Shoemaker of Virginia said that while Ms Dugard's story gives his family hope that they'll find his son J R, it doesn't make his own case any easier to deal with.
"It's what that girl went through that gives you bad thoughts," said Mr Shoemaker,who last saw his son 15 years ago when J R was five years old.
"It's a terrible thing that someone would do something like that. For what reason?"
Lois Warner, whose five-year-old granddaughter, Leanna Warner, disappeared six years ago in Minnesota, said she tries to avoid reading articles or watching TV reports about cases like Ms Dugard's. It brings back the pain, she said.
"To actually see it 18 years later, to know that's actually what happened to your loved one, is absolutely devastating," Ms Warner said.
While some in her family might hope for a reunion like Ms Dugard's, Ms Warner doubts she would be able to handle it.
"I don't want to know. She's with the Lord, in my opinion, whether or not she's alive," she said.
At the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, President Ernie Allen said Ms Dugard's reappearance was celebrated as the kind of story advocates work to make happen, whether by asking the public to report suspicious activity or by pushing police to keep working cases.
"It's really important that these cases not be closed until we know with certainty what happened to them," Mr Allen said.
Patty Wetterling keeps a scrapbook of news clippings about abducted children being reunited with their families years later. It's a source of hope for Ms Wetterling, whose son Jacob was abducted nearly 20 years ago in Minnesota.
Soon, Ms Wetterling will add another child's story to her book: Jaycee Lee Dugard's.
"My heart's smiling," Ms Wetterling said of reports that Ms Dugard had been reunited with her family in California 18 years after she was abducted at age 11."It doesn't happen often enough, but we always have hope in our hearts that it will."
Ms Dugard's case, and others like it, show families whose children have been missing for years that such reunions are possible.
More than 58,000 children are taken in non-family abductions every year in the United States, according to Justice Department estimates. Most of those cases are resolved within the first 24 hours, while an estimated 115 children are victims of real kidnapping - where the child is held, taken a long distance, killed or kept.
Ms Wetterling and some other parents of missing children believe their loved ones still could be out there, just like Ms Dugard.They also know it's unlikely that abducted children will seek help, becoming dependent on their captors.
"These kids don't just come forward on their own, they're most often discovered,"said Ms Wetterling, of St Joseph, Minnesota,who has become a nationally known advocate for missing and exploited children."They build a life. They're told lies. They do what they need to survive. We need to do what we can to find them."
In Arkansas, where six-year-old Morgan Nick went missing in 1995, her mother Colleen has led efforts to keep the case going.She meets with the town's police chief regularly to talk about the case and any new leads,which she says come in weekly.Like Ms Wetterling, Ms Nick started a foundation named after her daughter to support other families and assist in prevention efforts.
When she first heard the news about Ms Dugard,Ms Nick's office phone started ringing. Then her cell phone. All the other parents she had worked with through the years shared in the joy - Ms Dugard had reaffirmed that working to find their missing children was worth it, she said.
"Early on, people said,'It's been too long,maybe you should face reality.' But my reality is my little girl is missing. Giving up is not an option," Ms Nick said."Part of your heart is walking around somewhere without you."
Ms Dugard's reunion with her family is now one of the cases Hilary Sessions will cite as she explains to people why she's still looking for her daughter, Tiffany, who vanished on her college campus in 1989.
The Elizabeth Smart case in Utah and the Shawn Hornbeck case in Missouri also gave her reason to keep looking while some people were telling her to move on.
"They think I'm crazy for keeping up the hope," said Ms Sessions, of Florida.
It's been 20 years since Ms Sessions last saw Tiffany, but she said she heard of a case in Canada where a woman was held in captivity even longer than Ms Dugard before being reunited with her mother.
"The mother stayed in the same house,hoping that her daughter would come home,"she said."I'm still in my same house."
While Ms Dugard turned out to be alive,hearing details about her captivity was painful for some families with missing children.
Victor Shoemaker of Virginia said that while Ms Dugard's story gives his family hope that they'll find his son J R, it doesn't make his own case any easier to deal with.
"It's what that girl went through that gives you bad thoughts," said Mr Shoemaker,who last saw his son 15 years ago when J R was five years old.
"It's a terrible thing that someone would do something like that. For what reason?"
Lois Warner, whose five-year-old granddaughter, Leanna Warner, disappeared six years ago in Minnesota, said she tries to avoid reading articles or watching TV reports about cases like Ms Dugard's. It brings back the pain, she said.
"To actually see it 18 years later, to know that's actually what happened to your loved one, is absolutely devastating," Ms Warner said.
While some in her family might hope for a reunion like Ms Dugard's, Ms Warner doubts she would be able to handle it.
"I don't want to know. She's with the Lord, in my opinion, whether or not she's alive," she said.
At the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, President Ernie Allen said Ms Dugard's reappearance was celebrated as the kind of story advocates work to make happen, whether by asking the public to report suspicious activity or by pushing police to keep working cases.
"It's really important that these cases not be closed until we know with certainty what happened to them," Mr Allen said.
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