Koh Tao murders: Pre-trial hearing, observer team (Updated Wednesday)

14 ตุลาคม 2557

Latest: Thai police have apparently agreed to allow observers from Britain and Myanmar. The Koh Tao case went court for the first time yesterday in a pre-trial hearing that heard from three witnesses. Attorneys from the Lawyers Council of Thailand assisted them.

Latest: Thai police have apparently agreed to allow observers from Britain and Myanmar. The Koh Tao case went court for the first time yesterday in a pre-trial hearing that heard from three witnesses. Attorneys from the Lawyers Council of Thailand assisted them.

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Wednesday

British ambassador Mark Kent leaves the Foreign Ministry yesterday after a meeting with top ministry and police officials in which it was agreed that a team of observers from Britain and Myanmar will be allowed to observe judicial procedures in the Koh Tao murder case. PATIPAT JANTHONG

The Bangkok Post reports this morning that Thailand has agreed in principle to allow a team of observers from Britain and Myanmar to observe judicial procedures in the Koh Tao murder case, which has sparked a barrage of media criticism in both countries.

The move was approved during a meeting of officials including national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang, Foreign Ministry deputy permanent secretary Kiattikhun Chartprasert, British ambassador Mark Kent and Myanmar ambassador Win Maung. Details of how the monitoring will work in practice are pending further discussion.

Andy Hall (@Atomicalandy) reports that the questioning of the three witnesses has continued all day and into the evening. Little has been reported about what was said – although Hall says the male victim's (David Miller) phone was one subject. Other reports also said that Maung Maung, a friend of the suspects, did confirm he was with them near the beach earlier on the night of the murders.

Hall says the two suspects were in court and seemed to be in good health.

Here's more from the Bangkok this morning:

Maung Maung, who works as a waiter at AC Two restaurant on Koh Tao, confirmed that he, Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin were the three men in footage taken from security cameras on the night of the murders.

The prosecution lawyer played the footage in which they went into a 7-Eleven shop at 11.10pm on Sept 14 and bought three bottles of beer. Maung Maung was seen on camera leaving the 7-Eleven to buy cigarettes from a nearby store at 11.12pm.

The three were later caught on another security camera leaving a soi in front of AC Bar, where the two victims were last seen before they were murdered. Zaw Lin was seen driving with Maung Maung and Win Zaw Htun riding pillion on the back of the same motorcycle. Win Zaw Htun carried a guitar.

Maung Maung said he and the two others drank beer and played guitar on Sairee beach that night, about 100 metres from the crime scene. He said he left the others once they finished the beer.

Tuesday

Maung Maung (blue shirt), alleged witness and friend of the accused killers and still in police custody in Koh Samui, is interviewed by a Myanmar embassy legal team last week. He will appear today at a pre-trial witness interview. (Photo by Min Oo)

Mid-afternoon

British ambassador Mark Kent has just tweeted: "Just finished nearly 3 hour meeting with Thai Police, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Burmese Ambassador and delegation on Koh Tao murders." That's it. We'll have to wait for details.

Updates from the courtroom

Andy Hall, a rights activist who long experience helping migrant workers, is in the Samui court and is giving regular updates through twitter (@Atomicalandy)

The two Myanmar suspects are in court and they have chosen a team of human rights lawyers rather than court-appointed lawyers. A new translator has also been provided. There were worries that the first translator, a Muslim, was not impartial.

The defence request to postpone the hearing has been denied by the court since there are worries the witnesses might leave the country.

Three witnesses are to be interrogated today, Halls says, all male and all young. One is here legally, i.e., he has the proper documents, the other two are not.

Earlier

It is officially a pre-trial witness hearing, but it is the first time the Koh Tao murder investigation will be open to a public examination in a court of law, thus there is high interest. The hearing should start around 10am in Koh Samui and I'll have an update after it concludes. Here is some background on what is happening today.

Three 'witnesses' to testify in Koh Tao case

Lawyers Council will attend court hearing

Sirinya Wattanasukchai
Supapong Chaolan

Lawyers from the Lawyers Council of Thailand will accompany three potential witnesses from Myanmar as they testify in the Koh Tao murder case in a court in Samui Tuesday, human rights advocate Surapong Kongchantuk said.

It is unclear whether the two accused Myanmar workers, Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin, will appear at the hearing.

If they do, it would be the first time they are represented by lawyers during official questioning.

Regional Public Prosecution 8 deputy director-general and head of the prosecution team Tawatchai Siangjaew said the prosecution's request to conduct pre-trial witness interviews was necessary as regular legal proceedings take a long time and the witnesses are foreign nationals who might return home.

Mr Tawatchai said the police have yet to send more evidence as requested by the prosecutors, but he expected it next week.

Win and Zaw are charged with the murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, who were found dead on Koh Tao's Sai Ree beach in the early hours of Sept 15.

In addition to Maung Maung, a roommate of the suspects who says he did not see the killings, two other Myanmar nationals, Ren Ren and Nee Ong, have been called to give depositions Tuesday, said Mr Surapong, who is chairman of the Lawyers Council of Thailand's human rights subcommittee on ethnic minorities.

He did not say how Ren and Nee were connected to the case. It is unclear where they are being held, but they are known not to be permanent residents.

He said the authorities might further question Win and Zaw to make up for shortcomings noted by prosecutors in the 300-page investigation report.

Mr Surapong said the council decided Monday to assign two lawyers, working pro bono, to aid a human rights network assisting the witnesses.

So far, questioning of the suspects and witnesses have been done without a lawyer and a proper interpreter present.

Mr Surapong said a team of lawyers would later be assigned to the case. He didn't give the lawyers' names.

They plan to help the suspects and witnesses navigate the legal process, including informing them how to confess if they are guilty and how to defend themselves if they are innocent.

The case has dented relations between Thailand, Myanmar and Britain, and harmed Thailand's reputation as a tourism destination. It has also raised questions about Thailand's judicial process, Mr Surapong said.

In London, junior foreign minister Hugo Swire summoned Thai charge d'affaires Nadhavathna Krishnamra and "stressed that there was a real concern in the UK about how the investigation has been handled by the Thai authorities," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Mr Swire "said that it was crucial for the investigation to be conducted in a fair and transparent way," it said.

He also noted "his concern about the way that the police had engaged with the media on the case, and reiterated that the UK police stood ready to assist with the investigation and subsequent legal process", it said.