Groucho was right
Junta’s lapdog legislature
appears certain to make military courts permanent
The late American comic Groucho Marx once famously said that military justice
is to justice what military music is to music. That is being proven out with a
vengeance in Thailand.
Almost
immediately after ousting the elected Pheu Thai government of former Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, The National Council for Peace and Order, the
pseudonym for the junta, extended the jurisdiction of the military courts to
try civilians for breaching junta regulations in the name of preserving
“national security.”
So far, since the May 22 military coup
that brought Prayuth Chan-ocha and the junta to power, according to Thai
Lawyers for Human Rights, at least 666 individuals have been told to report to
the authorities. At least 134 of those were ordered to military courts for
prosecution.
By the end of this month, the National Legislative Assembly, made up
predominantly of military officials or their supporters, is expected to codify
military law into the military courts statute, allowing local commanders to
detain civilians up to 84 days without charge or judicial oversight, basically
handing the military unchecked authority to detain civilians.
There are growing concerns that the military is going too far. After
nine months of relative calm after the coup, the 19th in the country’s history
– 13 of them successful – Thailand is basically under lockdown, according to
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a Chulalongkorn University professor of political science
who is one of the country’s most astute observers, writing in the Straits Times of Singapore on Feb. 19.
Thailand has had plenty of occasions to get used to the tanks in the
streets. But the degree of
control being exercised by Prayuth’s government is unprecedented, sources in
Bangkok say. And while the streets are relatively calm, with few protests,
there is growing concern, as reported in Asia Sentinel on Feb. 13, that it may have
been screwed down too tight, setting the stage for more political turbulence
that the military can’t control.
Outraged citizens have taken to the streets in the past to drive the
military back to the barracks. In 1992, Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon made the
mistake of thinking he could make a coup permanent. That one was named the
National Peacekeeping Council. Eventually, 200,000 people came to the streets
in what was called Black May. At least 52 people died, hundreds disappeared and
3,500 were arrested before Suchinda and his troops retreated and gave the
government back to the civilians,
A big part of the growing tension is the military courts. As Thitinan
pointed out, fallout over charges brought against former Prime Minister
Yingluck Shinaatra have been limited because the junta is so clearly in charge
and with martial law as a coercive instrument to quell street protest.
The military courts have been criticized by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International and other human rights NGOs, with no discernible effect on the
military leaders who have taken over Thailand. At least 25 military courts are operating
across the country. Besides the 366 people
that Thai Lawyers for Human Rights have tracked, the total number being
processed in those courts s unknown. The National Council has refused to make that
information public.
”All of these people have experienced the violation of their rights in
different ways,” according to Thai Lawyers. “Many have been held in custody for
at least seven days without an arrest warrant being produced, charges being
pressed, or the locations of their detention facilities being disclosed. Many
have been denied the right to speak with a lawyer or receive visits from their
relatives.”
There have been allegations that military officials have tortured
detainees in order to coerce them into confessing while they are in custody.
The information obtained has then been used to go after others named under
torture.
Amnesty International accused the Thai authorities of “using the courts
to silence dissent and make an example of those who voice opposition against
military rule.” Civilians convicted in Thai military courts have no right of
appeal to higher courts, which is contrary to international law.
“No civilian should be tried in a military court in any circumstance –
authorities should move all such cases to civilian courts and stop prosecuting
people for acts which are not internationally recognized as offenses,”
according to Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy
Director, in a statement issued last September.
“Trying civilians in military courts with no right to appeal violates
Thailand’s commitments to protect the right to a fair trial. The Thai
authorities should also immediately reinstate the rights to freedom of
expression and peaceful assembly – the current sweeping restrictions on these
rights are creating a climate of fear.”
Martial law is present from the start of the process, with the military
arresting civilians and then relying on evidence obtained from them in custody,
often by torture, as the human rights organizations charge. There is no right
to habeas corpus. The military can use the pretrial period to obtain evidence
before the suspect has even appeared before a tribunal.
The defendants have no right to counsel. Note-taking is banned in the
courtroom. Often cases are prosecuted in secret. The courts are not accessible to relatives or
rights activists. Requests for temporary
release are almost never granted, with the authorities citing the political
nature of the cases as the reason for the denial.
The military court is a single-tiered system. “Based on cases which have
already been adjudicated, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights observes that the
military courts tend to impose much harsher sanctions than civilian courts,:
the NGO said. “This forces civilian defendants to choose to plead guilty to the
charges rather than to fight them. In addition, no effort is made to explore
the background of the accused persons, which should be examined for the
possible reduction of sentences. Concern about the harsh and unjust practices
of the military courts has pressured people to flee and live in exile.”
The organization called for ceasing the apprehension, arrest and
detention of individuals under martial law, saying it “creates a benefit for
officials engaged in the criminal prosecution of civilians, but also creates
opportunities for the violation of the right to life and security of civilians
and makes them unable to access a fair and just judicial process.”
That patently is not going to happen unless protest drives the military
out of power again. Although Thitinan and others are growing concerned, it
doesn’t appear yet that there is enough momentum to do that. Asia Sentinel
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