This archive report was first published on 14 October 2019.
On October 14, 2019, the world was reminded of the precarious situation of Thai dissidents, as the government continued to crack down on activists.
Three dissidents in Laos, including the prominent ex-communist Surachai Danwattananusorn, went missing in mid-December 2018. Surachai, who had joined Thaksin's party in 2006 and set up the Red Siam group, a militant faction of the red-shirt movement, had previously been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for lèse-majesté in 2012. He received a royal pardon in late 2013 but fled Thailand after the coup.
Two bodies, cut open and stuffed with concrete, were found in the Mekong River at the Thai-Lao border in late December. The Thai Institute of Forensic Medicine confirmed the identities of Kraidej Leulert and Chatchan Bubpawan, two of Surachai's assistants. Surachai's whereabouts remain unknown.
Then, in May 2019, three dissidents reportedly were arrested by the Vietnamese authorities and secretly extradited to Thailand. They are Chucheep Chiwasut, Siam Theerawut, and Kritsana Thapthai. Chucheep, widely known as Uncle Sanam Luang, regularly broadcast underground internet shows against the monarchy from Laos until he tried to move to Vietnam, fearing assassination.
Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan of Thailand has denied that the three men were ever extradited by Vietnam.
After these cases, the four members of the folk band Faiyen, known for its lyrics mocking the Thai monarchy, sought to urgently leave Laos, where they have lived in exile since 2014. They feared the Thai state would come after them next, a claim that the Thai Defense Ministry has denied and shrugged off.
The Thai government consistently rejects any accusation that it may be involved in any such repression abroad. Laos, for its part, typically refuses to acknowledge the disappearance of Thai dissidents.
