Surachai Danwattananusorn

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Surachai Danwattananusorn (Thai: สุร ชัย ด่าน วัฒนา นุ สร ณ์ ; also known as Surachai Sae Dan , สุร ชัย แซ่ ด่าน ; * December 24, 1942 in the Amphoe Pak Phanang , Nakhon Si Thammarat province ; disappeared in December 2018 in Vientiane , Laos ) a Thai political activist. He was a leader of the left-wing splinter group " Red-Siam " in the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) known as the "Red Shirts" .

Life

In the 1970s, Surachai was a member of the left student movement. After the massacre at Thammasat University on October 6, 1976, he joined the banned Communist Party of Thailand (KPT), which fought violently against the military government from camps in the jungle. According to the judiciary, he committed a bomb attack on a governor's seat and was imprisoned for it.

He later joined the Thai-Rak-Thai Party (TRT) of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra , but did not assume any political office or mandate at the national level. After Thaksin's overthrow by a military coup in September 2006 and the dissolution of the TRT by the Constitutional Court , he joined the People's Power Party and the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), the so-called "red shirts" movement, which reversed Thaksin's loss of power and wants to end the rule of an aristocratic-bureaucratic elite (ammat) felt by it.

Within the heterogeneous “ red shirt ” movement, he founded the group Daeng Sayam (“Red Siam” or “Red Siam”) together with the former TRT MP and Minister Jakrapob Penkair , which is considered to be left-wing and uncompromising. In August 2009 there was a dispute over the direction between “Red Siam” and the official leadership of the UDD. The latter accused Surachai of attempting an armed struggle in the style of the KPT again while pursuing a cautious and constitutional strategy. His group was expelled from the "Red Shirts" umbrella organization.

On February 28, 2012, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for lese majesty . The judges halved the initially set maximum of 15 years because Surachai pleaded guilty. Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the Thai judiciary on the occasion of UDD activists being treated more severely than activists of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) counter-movement known as the “yellow shirts” . Surachai was released on October 4, 2013 after King Bhumibol Adulyadej granted his pardon.

After the renewed military coup in May 2014 , Surachai went into exile in neighboring Laos. There he produced Internet radio programs that criticized the military junta and the Thai monarchy. Around December 12 or 13, 2018, Surachai and his co-workers Chatchai Bubphawan ("Phu Chana") and Kraidej Luelert ("Kasalong") disappeared from his home in Vientiane. On December 26, 27 and 29, three mutilated and gutted bodies washed ashore on the Thai side of the Mekong (districts of Tha Uthen , Mueang Nakhon Phanom and That Phanom of Nakhon Phanom Province ). Two of the bodies were identified as Chatchai and Kraidej using DNA testing. The third corpse disappeared again. Surachai's wife assumes that it was her husband. She blames the Thai military junta for his death. In 2016 and 2017 two more “red shirts” critical of the monarchy had already disappeared in Laos.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nicola Glass: In jail for 7.5 years. In: the daily newspaper . February 28, 2012. Retrieved February 29, 2012 .
  2. ↑ a b c Lese majesty: imprisonment for "red shirt" leaders in Thailand. In: ORF . February 28, 2012, Retrieved February 28, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Surachai gets 7 years in jail for reading majeste. Bangkok Post, February 29, 2012.
  4. ↑ Chairat Charoensin-o-larn: Redrawing Thai Political Space. The Red Shirt Movement. In: Cleavage, Connection and Conflict in Rural, Urban and Contemporary Asia. Ari Springer, 2013, p. 212.
  5. ↑ Seven and a half years imprisonment for lese majesty. In: The Standard . February 28, 2012. Retrieved February 29, 2012 .
  6. ^ Surachai freed on royal pardon. In: Bangkok Post , October 4, 2013.
  7. ↑ Surachai praises King's 'graciousness' for his royal pardon. In: The Nation , October 5, 2013.
  8. ^ Laos: Investigate Disappearance of 3 Thai Dissidents. Human Rights Watch, January 22, 2019.
  9. ↑ Jintamas Saksornchai: Wife Accuses Junta Behind Murder of Missing Republican Activist. In: Khao Sod English , February 25, 2019.
  10. ^ Thai officials deny any role in the deaths of Surachai's aides. In: The Nation (online), January 24, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Surachai Danwattananusorn
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Surachai Sae Dan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION thai political activist
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Pak Phanang Amphoe , Nakhon Si Thammarat Province , Thailand