The attorney-general has set up a panel of prosecutors to oversee a Department of Special Investigation (DSI) investigation into the case of a man forced to falsely confess to his wife’s murder.
Panya Khongsaenkham was allegedly tortured by police in Sa Kaeo province who tried to make the 56-year-old a scapegoat for the slaying in January of his mentally unstable wife, Buaphan Tansu.
Watcharin Phanurat, a spokesman of the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG), said on Tuesday that the DSI was now officially looking into the case under the Act on the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearances.
A panel of nine public prosecutors will monitor the investigation, said Mr Watcharin, also a deputy chief of the OAG’s investigation bureau. He will head the panel.
“This is not a joint investigation by both OAG and the DSI. The prosecutors are only responsible for overseeing the probe until it is concluded,” he said.
The case has received considerable public attention as some public servants have been implicated.
The investigation follows an accusation against the Aranyaprathet police force that some of its officers tortured Mr Panya into falsely confessing to killing his 47-year-old wife.
Security camera video on Jan 11, however, showed that Buaphan was assaulted, abducted and killed by a group of teenagers who later disposed of her body in a nearby pond.
Two of the five accused are sons of local police officers.
Voice recordings from around the same time reveal panicked conversations between officers investigating the case when they realise they had “the wrong guy” in custody.
Pol Maj Yutthana Praedam, acting director-general of the DSI, on Jan 24 approved an order to establish whether the officers had unlawfully pressed criminal charges against Mr Panya.
If their guilt is proven, their conduct will be considered to have been in violation of the anti-torture act that took effect last year.
Lawsuits against the parents of the five young perpetrators aged 13 to 16, who are accused of killing Buaphan, have been filed with the Central Juvenile and Family Court.
Under the Child Protection Act, the parents are being charged with forcing, threatening, persuading, supporting or allowing their children to behave improperly.
The court allowed the five teenage suspects to be temporarily released. However, the minors will be closely monitored by probation officers before the court hearing takes place on March 13 at 10am.
The case has prompted the national police chief, Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol, to observe that the criminal law related to juvenile crime may need amending so that young people who commit serious crimes face tougher penalties.