The arrest of seven members of a Russian-Belarusian rock band known for having an anti-Putin stance will be a test case for the Srettha Thavisin government's position on human rights.
The Jan 24 arrest of all of the Bi2 band members for working without permits in Phuket by Thai immigration police grabbed international headlines this week. The seven band members -- two Russian nationals and others carrying dual citizenship -- are now custodians of the Immigration Office in Bangkok.
Usually, Thai law repatriates foreigners who violate immigration law back to their country of origin. If that is the case for Bi2, it is feared that those sent to Russia will be in danger over their criticism of the country's leader, Vladimir Putin.
The case will be another diplomatic hot potato for Thailand, which is known for having warm diplomatic ties with Moscow dating back to the late 19th century when Russian Tsar Nicholas II and King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) of Siam formed a friendly personal relationship.
Despite this, the Thai government cannot forget it legally needs to adhere to the non-refoulement policy enshrined in the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, which took effect on Feb 22. The law includes provisions of non-derogation and non-refoulement, prohibiting officials from expelling, deporting and extraditing a person to another country where they may face substantial risks of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or enforced disappearance.
The Thai government has to appreciate that Bi2 is not only a regular rock group, with its frontman Egor Bortnick reportedly being even labelled by Russian authorities as a "foreign agent" after he criticised President Putin online.
But Bi2's case at this stage favours the band, given the international news media coverage and support from international human rights groups.
Thailand is also preparing to bid for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission, so the civilian-led government will likely toe the international human rights line even more.
The Bi2 case occurs amid the reality that many refugees, asylum seekers or anti-government activists have sought to stay in Thailand to avoid persecution in their home countries. Little public attention has been given to the plights of political refugees from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, countries which the Thai government or even the Thai army has much closer collaborative relationships with.
This has been seen in the case of Myanmar. In February last year -- just weeks before Thailand's anti-torture law, which enforces the non-refoulment of political refugees, went into effect -- the Thai military signed an MoU with the junta in an agreement to send refugees back to Myanmar. It currently remains unknown if the Thai government itself has come to any agreements with the junta or how many refugees have been sent back.
Now is the time for Defence Minister Sutin Klungsang to spell out to the army that it will not return political activists to Myanmar's junta.
In the case of Cambodia, a group of the country's politicians tried pressuring Bangkok to send back several anti-government activists last month.
It is hoped that the Srettha government, which is trying to deepen its ties with Phnom Penh and will host Prime Minister Hun Manet's visit in Bangkok on Feb 7, will not be overwhelmed by the desire for economic gain and forget about its human rights principles.