'Dad had very strong convictions about justice. He always told us, right or wrong, it's up to the court to decide, and he did not think all his clients were innocent. If they had done something wrong, they deserved to be punished, and the punishment had to be made proportionate to the offence, not more severe than the gravity of the offence committed.
Pratabjit Neelapaijit, daughter of Somchai and Angkhana Neelapaijit, talks about the disappearance of her father. Earlier this month, the Department of Special Investigation said its Somchai Neelapaijit files were stolen, but then retracted the comment after being criticised by human rights organisations. SOMCHAI POOMLARD
"It's all about fighting for one case, from the lower court, to the Appeals Court and the Supreme Court. My dad was simply doing his best. He did not feel discouraged easily. A straightforward person, it was not even thinkable for him to turn black to white, or white to black."
The quote is taken from an article penned by our elder daughter, Sudpradthana Neelapaijit, the day her dad was made to disappear.
That she was named Sudpradthana (which means the most desirable) indicates her dad was hoping his first child would be a girl.
And she was the only child who has followed his path in working in the justice system.
As a son of farmers, my husband knew too well about suffering and exploitation as well as other social injustices. It made him want to become a good lawyer to help better the life of farmers and other marginalised persons.
After finishing his studies at Ramkhamhaeng University's Faculty of Law, he joined human rights lawyer and Magsaysay laureate Thongbai Thongpao in the fight for people facing injustices.
As reckoned by his eldest daughter, Somchai held strong beliefs in the justice process. He genuinely believed that through proving a case in the justice system, he would be able to restore justice and dignity to the damaged parties.
Prior to his being abducted and his disappearance, the situation in the deep South had gone from bad to worse under the counter-terrorism policy of then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Somchai was helping to represent five villagers from Narathiwat who had been arrested and subjected to torture. He wrote to complain to various agencies and called for an investigation. Only one day after he made complaints, he was abducted by a group who were later identified as police.
The incident took place in downtown Bangkok. Nearly 10 years later, Somchai is still missing.
Somchai was a major obstacle to the police as he was helping to prove the innocence of many suspects being held in state custody. That might be why certain officers wanted to make him disappear. Pressure from human rights organisations forced the Thaksin government to take action, leading to the arrest and prosecution of five officers from the Crime Suppression Division.
The acquisition of evidence was fraught with difficulties as there had been pressure heaped on potential eyewitnesses and our family. Also, the alleged offenders in this case were police and were eventually granted bail.
Some were even allowed to resume their duties while defending themselves in court.
Several bits of evidence submitted to the court were found to have been tampered with and their credibility was compromised. Meanwhile, the forensic police failed to acquire substantial forensic evidence. Even though the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) took up the case as a special one, it was able to make little progress and recently proposed to the public prosecutor that it terminate the investigation.
Somchai's disappearance illustrates a failure of Thailand's justice process. A disappearance is not criminalised under law, and no charges can be brought if the body is not found.
Somchai's disappearance has brought about extensive changes in my life, an ordinary housewife with barely any knowledge of the law.
I have had to lead my five children through this difficult, tormenting and painful episode of their lives, and at the same time I have had to think of ways to expedite justice for their father.
I repeatedly told them: "Even though the justice process may not bring him back, it could still bring justice to him."
Our younger daughter Prathapjit said in a public discussion on enforced disappearance in Thailand: "For survivors of enforced disappearance, the best remedy is to confront it with truth. Once, an officer at the DSI replied to an inquiry made by my mum about the fate of my dad, that 'after he was shoved into the car, he was brought to a safe house belonging to the Crime Suppression Division. There, he was tortured to death. Then, his body was burned and the ashes were scattered in the Mae Klong River.'
"When she was home, my mum shared the story with us. We started to cry and asked how she felt about that. She said 'we have to thank him for telling us how your father died'. The most important thing is to know the truth. Before this, we had different ideas as to how our dad would have been killed. Eventually, we heard that he was tortured to death and we at last knew who were involved."
Over the past 10 years, I have tried hard to reach for justice. But it is getting even harder given the situation. I have been through many things in my life, sorrow, disappointment and hardship, but nothing has warranted such extensive use of knowledge, patience and tolerance like this time. In many instances, my petitions for help have been turned down by the powers-that-be.
It looms as an insurmountable obstacle for an ordinary person like me to reach out for justice and the rule of law in Thailand. No one knows how painful and traumatic the experience can be to bear witness to the fact that a person who had done so much for so many people cannot even be bestowed with a graveyard where his descendants could hold a service in memory of him.
If the Mae Klong River was the last place where Somchai's body was seen, there could be many other victims of injustice who were made to disappear in other rivers, too.
And it should become a question to challenge all Thais and the powers-that-be in this country. How was it possible for us to have made the rivers a burial ground for innocent lives? And how can we prevent this?
I want to extend my solidarity to all relatives of the disappeared and urge you all to fight till the end to reach out for truth and justice in the midst of violence and intimidation. I believe that no one is too small to live with honour and dignity.
I believe that though the wounds in our hearts are invisible and untouchable, they do tell us all stories of trauma, pain and so many injustices inflicted on us all. And owing to the wounds, we shall fight for justice and I believe that in the midst of loss and pain, through the course of our fight, we have woven our fabric of friendship, solidarity and mutual sympathy, something that will certainly last and be inerasable over time.
Angkhana Neelapaijit, a human rights advocate, is the wife of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit who disappeared on March 12, 2004.