<p>A Key PULO member talks about his 18 years behind bars, during which he helped to further peace talks.</p> <p></p>

<p>On 25 June 2012, at 9 am, the second of two pre-trial hearings in the case of Mr. Suderueman Maleh will take place at the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok (check at the court for the room number). Mr. Suderueman was one of five alleged perpetrators in a gun robbery case in 2004 whose complaint of being tortured while in custody was brought by Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit shortly before he was disappeared.</p>

<p>On 28 May, the Justice for Peace Foundation (JPF) called on the Thai Government to ratify and comply with the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances in a report which documents the enforced disappearance of 59 people from throughout Thailand.</p>

<p><em>A written statement submitted to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status</em></p> <p>The Asian Legal Resource Center wishes to bring the importance of continued action to end enforced disappearance in Thailand to the attention of the Human Rights Council. While the signing of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance on 9 January 2012 by the Government of Thailand is a positive step, the Convention must be ratified and domestic laws must be passed and implemented if its provisions are to be made concrete. As disappearance is one form of violence routinely used by Thai state security forces with impunity against citizens, the opportunity to secure accountability represented by the ratification and full implementation of the Convention is significant.</p>

<p><em>A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status </em></p> <p>The Asian Legal Resource Centre wishes to draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to the systemic persecution of torture victims in Thailand.</p>

<p>Mr. Sudeerueman Maleh, former client of disappeared human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, has been charged with giving false statements to the authorities about being tortured into a confession after trying to obtain justice against police officials. The case in question concerns the theft of weapons at Pileng Military Camp, Narathiwat province, and the alleged torture that took place at Tanyong police station.&nbsp; </p>

<p><strong>An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the Minister of Justice, Thailand </strong></p> <p>Thank you for your letter of <a href="http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/pdf/AHRC-OLT-004-2011-01.pdf">15 March 2011</a> (No. 0808/1379) to the staff of the Urgent Appeals Programme, Asian Human Rights Commission, concerning the case of Somchai Neelaphaijit, a human rights lawyer whom police abducted from his car on 12 March 2004 at a time that he was representing clients whom police had tortured, and whose case remains unsolved and whose whereabouts are unknown to the present day.</p>

<p>On 11 March 2011, one day before the seventh anniversary of the enforced disappearance and presumed murder of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, the Court of Appeal issued a judgment (i) overturning the conviction of Pol. Maj. Ngern Thongsuk due to insufficient evidence and (ii) denying the right of Angkhana Neelapaijit and her daughters to appeal the case to the Supreme Court as co-plaintiffs.<br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets, but is not surprised, that the five defendants who were earlier convicted for theft and illegal detention, in connection with the disappearance of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, have all been exonerated in an Appeal verdict. The court ruled to acquit all the defendants on procedural and technical grounds.</p>

<p>On 11 March 2011, the Appeals Court reads the verdict on the case brought by the criminal case public prosecutor and Mrs. Angkhana Neelapaijit, the wife of Mr. Somchai Neelapaijit, former Chairperson of the Muslim Lawyer Club and his children. The case was brought against five police officers1 on an offense concerning the use of vehicle to commit a thief, for coercing another person to commit an act or to refrain from committing an act against his or her willingness and physical assault. The case is related to the disappearance of Lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit on 12 March 2004.</p>

<p>On 28th February 2011, the Thai Foreign Minister Mr. Kasit Piromya, addressed the 16th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva at its High Level Segment (HLS). The HLS, which takes place in March of each year, was the first Ministerial level speech that Thailand delivered since it was elected as a member of the Council in May 2010. </p>

<p><em>A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) to the UN Human Rights Council</em></p>