INVESTIGATION STALLED ONE YEAR AFTER MURDER OF ACTIVIST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHIANG MAI 000152

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/15/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TH
SUBJECT: INVESTIGATION STALLED ONE YEAR AFTER MURDER OF ACTIVIST
MONK

REF: (05) CHIANG MAI 166 (MONK'S MURDER SEEN AS ATTEMPT TO SILENCE ACTIVISM)

CHIANG MAI 00000152 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Beatrice Camp , Consul General, Consulate Chiang
Mai, State.
REASON: 1.4 (d)


1. (C) Summary: The 2005 murder of activist monk Phra Suphot
Suwacho in Chiang Mai's Fang district remains unsolved, drawing
comparisons with the fate of two other prominent Thai human
rights activists. The stalled investigation has raised doubts
about the government's commitment to resolving the case and
curbed some political and social action in northern Thailand.
End summary


2. (U) Phra Suphot Suwacho, a Buddhist monk whose activities
put him in conflict with a variety of agri-business and Thai Rak
Thai (TRT) party interests, was stabbed to death June 17, 2005
in the woods surrounding Mettatham Buddhist Temple in Fang
district, Chiang Mai province. His colleague, Phra Kittisak
Kitisophano, now leads the effort to push authorities to solve
the murder, which he believes was politically motivated.
Newspaper accounts have linked the lack of resolution in Phra
Suphot's case to two other unsolved cases: the disappearance of
Bangkok human rights attorney Somchai Nilapaichit and the
assassination of Prachuap Khirikhan activist Charoen Wat-aksorn.


DOUBTS OVER OFFICIAL HANDLING
--------------


3. (C) During a July visit by the Consul General to the
Mettatham Buddhist Temple in Fang district, Phra Kittisak
expressed his disappointment over the official handling of the
case. Transfer of the case in July 2005 from the local police
to the Minister of Justice's Department of Special
Investigations (DSI) initially sparked hope that arrests would
result. However, the subsequent failure of DSI to go beyond
the initial police investigation led Phra Kittisak to doubt
whether the authorities were truly interested in resolving the
murder.


4. (C) Unhappy over the slow pace of investigation, Phra
Kittisak, together with representatives from the Lawyer's
Council of Thailand, the National Human Rights Commission and
Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Watch, in July 2006 asked
that the DSI release its findings. The DSI subsequently
invited Phra Kittisak to two meetings in August in which he
criticized the DSI's pursuit of a wide range of possible
motives; he argued that the political role of the monks from
Mettatham Temple and land encroachment by major agricultural
interests are inter-connected and that the investigation should
focus on finding "a ring" of those intent on intimidating the
monks.


5. (C) According to an account he gave Consulate staff about
the meetings with DSI, Phra Kittisak insisted that the
investigation should probe the possible involvement of Fang TRT
MP Santi Tansuhat: "While they seemed to admit that the
assault on Phra Suphot could be premeditated, they did not want
to talk about the mastermind of the plot. They have so far
ignored my request that MP Santi be summoned for questioning."


6. (C) Phra Kittisak, who was the most outspoken and
politically controversial of the three monks at the temple, is
convinced the case is linked to his own and his colleagues'
activities at the national level. In fact Phra Suphot may not
have been the primary target of the murder; local intelligence
contacts believe that the real aim was Phra Kittisak, as the
leader of the temple.

ANTI-THAKSIN ACTIVITIES
--------------


7. (C) The monks' activities included the use of the temple
as a production house for the journal "Sekhiyatham" and a
website, both frequently critical of Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra and TRT. Phra Suphot was instrumental in using his
computer expertise to disseminate the writings of a number of
social and political critics, including that of Phra Kittisak.
Reportedly MP Santi complained to the district chief about the
presence of this group of anti-government monks in his
constituency.


8. (U) In addition to the monks' anti-Thaksin activities,
the temple was known for its opposition to local land
encroachment, part of a conflict that pits large-scale
entrepreneurs against medium or small-scale farmers. In the last
decade Fang has developed into a major tangerine-producing area
using migrant labor and pesticide-heavy farming techniques.


9. (C) According to Phra Kittisak, representatives from
the National Human Rights Commission, the Lawyers' Council of

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Thailand and the Metta Thammarak Foundation share his conviction
that Phra Suphot's murder involved TRT politicians. He cited
an incident two years ago when provincial officials came to
inquire about the work of the monks at Mettatham Temple in Fang
after Phra Kittisak participated in a panel discussion at
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok opposing PM Thaksin's
controversial plan to buy the Liverpool football club. He also
related a warning from a sympathetic police officer before Phra
Suphot's death about a newly transferred police officer who was
close to the Fang MP and could pose a threat to the monks at
this temple.

BUDDHIST ACTIVISM
--------------


10. (U) The temple in Fang and its social activism are rooted
in the Buddhist reform movement of Wat Suan Mok led by the late
Buddhadas Bhikkhu. The monks at Wat Mettatham carried this
legacy north in the late 1990s and joined the Metta Thammarak
Foundation in setting up the temple in Fang district.
Established in 1999 by well-known social critic Dr. Prawese
Wasi, the Metta Thammarak Foundation combines Buddhism with
democracy and human rights promotion. Social issues that the
foundation has taken on include opposition to a Thai-Malaysian
gas pipeline project in Songkhla, a power plant project in
Prachuap Khirikhan, and dams on the Mekong. The foundation, now
based in Chiang Mai, also supports cross-border programs to
assist internally displaced Burmese along the Thai-Burma border
and played a role in acquiring property for Dr. Cynthia Maung's
Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot. More recently, the foundation began
educating locals in Chiang Mai's northern Fang and Mae Ai
districts about the plight of Burma's Shan State and the migrant
Shan laborers in the district.


11. (C) Phra Suphot's death put a damper on the work of the
temple and the foundation. Publication of the Sekhiyatham
journal ceased, along with the website. Since the murder,
villagers have stayed away from the temple and shown reluctance
to participate in interviews about the case with attorneys from
the Lawyer's Council of Thailand. According to Phra Kittisak,
those villagers who acceded to the interviews kept their
comments superficial.


12. (C) Comment: Whether the murder of activist Buddhist
monk Phra Suphot in June 2005 was tied in with national
politics, local agricultural interests, or an unpremeditated act
of violence, it has served to intimidate human rights and
environmental activists. The fact that no suspects have been
brought forward more than a year after the murder fits a
familiar pattern in which those in power are able to stall
investigations until public interest tapers off.
CAMP