New chief for mystery bodies probe
Ismail Wolff
IHT ThaiDay, Thailand
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Justice Ministry permanent Secretary Jarupong Ruangsuwan has been assigned to oversee an investigation concerning the identification of more than 300 corpses that have lain in unmarked graves in the South for over a year, minister Chitchai Wannasathit said yesterday.
The move seemingly puts Jarupong in charge of the investigation previously headed by Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunan, director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS), under the Justice Ministry.
Chitchai said Jarupong will go to cemeteries in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat to direct the investigative process.
Asked if that would undermine Khunying Pornthip’s role in the investigation, Chitchai simply said: “I have already assigned Jarupong to be in charge.”
The justice minister also stressed there was no evidence to suggest the hundreds of corpses were connected to the alleged kidnapping and disappearance of local Muslims at the hands of security forces in the region.
Police claim most of the bodies are those of foreign migrant workers murdered in crimes unrelated to the violent insurgency plaguing the southernmost border provinces since January 2004. However, Khunying Pornthip said yesterday she will finally proceed next month with exhuming the unmarked graves that were first discovered in July 2005.
May 30, 2006
Ismail Wolff
IHT ThaiDay, Thailand
________________
Justice Ministry permanent Secretary Jarupong Ruangsuwan has been assigned to oversee an investigation concerning the identification of more than 300 corpses that have lain in unmarked graves in the South for over a year, minister Chitchai Wannasathit said yesterday.
The move seemingly puts Jarupong in charge of the investigation previously headed by Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunan, director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS), under the Justice Ministry.
Chitchai said Jarupong will go to cemeteries in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat to direct the investigative process.
Asked if that would undermine Khunying Pornthip’s role in the investigation, Chitchai simply said: “I have already assigned Jarupong to be in charge.”
The justice minister also stressed there was no evidence to suggest the hundreds of corpses were connected to the alleged kidnapping and disappearance of local Muslims at the hands of security forces in the region.
Police claim most of the bodies are those of foreign migrant workers murdered in crimes unrelated to the violent insurgency plaguing the southernmost border provinces since January 2004. However, Khunying Pornthip said yesterday she will finally proceed next month with exhuming the unmarked graves that were first discovered in July 2005.
May 30, 2006
