Lethal injection is just such a method of punishment in 2002 that Thai lawmakers chose for criminals sentenced to death. Prior to that, they had been machine-gunned for many years.
The law is harsh and merciless …
The list of articles in the Criminal Code of Thailand, according to which citizens who violate the law are sentenced to death, is very extensive.
In particular, the country's authorities are consistently fighting the spread of drugs, and therefore dealers and wholesale suppliers will face severe punishment.
According to the Royal Act of 1979, possession of any drug in the amount of more than twenty grams or heroin in the amount of more than one hundred grams is punishable by death.
Deception, coercion, intimidation, threats of physical violence, harmful influence committed against minors with the aim of forcing them to take drugs are punishable by death. Moreover, the law is equally merciless to both Thais and citizens of other countries.
Local guides warn tourists about the inadmissibility of contact with dark personalities who offer to buy marijuana or other drugs. Otherwise, you can first end up in a Thai prison, and then receive a death sentence.
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Those who have committed murder with particular cruelty, as well as those who have taken the life of a representative of power or an official, are sentenced to death. The law is harsh for those who killed the head of a foreign state or sent a person to the next world in order to cover up any other crime. If the attacker committed arson or explosion, which led to casualties, if he organized the kidnapping of a person, as a result of which he died, he will die. The same fate is destined for the rapists.
Extenuating circumstances
The death penalty applies to government officials (as well as judges, investigators, prosecutors) who have been caught taking bribes or extortion. Attempts on the life of the king of Thailand and members of his family, as well as all kinds of terrorist acts that have involved victims, are severely punished. The Thai Themis is ruthless to the spies who have inflicted damage on the country's security, as well as to persons who incited the people to anti-government protests, initiated riots and called for a mutiny in order to change the state system.
Despite the abundance of crimes punishable by the death penalty, in recent years, Thai courts are increasingly considering extenuating circumstances, in the presence of which the death penalty can be replaced by a long term of imprisonment.
Mitigating circumstances Thai laws consider the state of passion at the time of the crime, the dementia of the offender, the absence of a serious criminal record on trial, the voluntary appearance of the offender to the police, his frank confession, and the provision of useful information to the judicial and investigative authorities.
However, judges are particularly strict with drug dealers and rarely take extenuating circumstances into account.
Thus, the major local tycoons of the drug business - 45-year-old Zharoenvanit and 52-year-old Pumpreuk in 2009 were sentenced to death, which was carried out. Bob Mitchell, an African who was caught red-handed for transporting a large consignment of drugs, was also executed.
Death row
The local Themis is more humane to juvenile delinquents and pregnant women. The death penalty does not apply to them, but the long sentences (up to fifty years) in a Thai prison represent a serious ordeal. Local correctional facilities are far from European standards, where even hardened murderers serve time in comfortable cells with clean linen, TV, shower, bathroom, good food and regular visits with relatives.
Here is how an eyewitness describes a Thai prison: “Imagine a cramped room with up to forty people at the same time. There are no toilets and sewerage systems, usually plastic bottles and drain pits instead. There are no air conditioners. Due to the heat and very humid climate, the atmosphere of the chamber is filled with eerie miasma. It is impossible to lie normally, the prisoners are stacked in rows, head to foot. The food is extremely scarce (they are fed once a day), and the guards are real animals who apply severe physical measures to the recalcitrant. Add the stuffiness to all this, and you can imagine some kind of faint semblance of a Thai prison. Even a few hours spent in such conditions can break a person's psyche or deprive him of health."
If the court sentenced the prisoner to death, then he is placed in a more "comfortable" cell in Bangkwang prison measuring 4 × 7 meters, where up to twenty convicts are usually kept. Each convict is entitled to a mattress measuring 5x70x170 centimeters. Personal belongings are kept in bags that hang on the wall. The cell is equipped with ceiling fans that blow the tight air saturated with disgusting odors. Recently, TV sets have been installed for suicide bombers, and cameras have been equipped with toilets.
last hope
Prisoners are woken up at eight in the morning and are entitled to two hours for personal hygiene and breakfast. They are served lunch at two o'clock in the afternoon, and dinner at eight in the evening. The light is not turned off at night. Prisoners are required to wear shackles at all times until their sentence takes effect or is commuted to life imprisonment.
The offender can appeal against the harsh sentence to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. If these authorities refuse, then the last hope for the suicide bomber may be the pardon of the king of Thailand.
In order to get a chance for a pardon, the prisoner submits a petition through the prison administration. The official representing the correctional institution prepares the necessary package of documents, and then transfers it to the Ministry of Justice, to the office of the Prime Minister, to the administration of the Privy Council and to the king, who has the right to grant the petition or reject it without explanation.
The prison administration keeps statistics on the executions of sentences. The last execution of a prisoner from a machine gun took place on December 11, 2002. Since January 1, 2003, instead of machine gunners, officers with medical education have appeared in the prison staff, who are to inject an intravenous poisonous substance into a suicide bomber who is firmly tied to a table. At the signal of the execution commander, the injection of poison into the blood of the suicide bomber begins using an IV. The doctor present here can only state the death and sign the corresponding act. After which the body of the offender is subject to cremation.
The authorities of European countries have consistently put pressure on the Thai authorities and urged them to abolish the death penalty. This has had some effect - statements by government officials in recent years suggest that the country may be planning a gradual abolition of the death penalty through legislative and constitutional changes.
Sword of Damocles
In 2012, all those sentenced to death received a royal pardon. This was reported with great fanfare by the country's media, although the public reacted to this news ambiguously. Supporters of the death penalty believe that one should not spend budget funds on the maintenance of incorrigible criminals. As if taking into account the opinion of these Thais, in the vote of the UN General Assembly in 2012, Thailand did not support a resolution that called for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty.
It is possible that the apparent contradiction between Thailand's position in the UN and the royal pardon of suicide bombers, the country's authorities hope to resolve by a popular referendum on the death penalty. Based on its results, the king and the authorities can make an appropriate decision - to abolish the death penalty in the country or to start executing criminals again.
It is obvious that the decision of the authorities will be influenced by the pressure of the European countries and their calls to observe the principles of humanity. After all, it is the tourists from Europe who bring millions of dollars to the Thai budget, and for most of them it is important that generally accepted norms and values are observed in the country they visit.
The Thai judicial system, to some extent, tries to correspond to the European one - it provides for the provision of a lawyer to the prisoner. The better the financial situation of the criminal, the higher the qualifications of the lawyer. As for low-income convicts, the court has the right to provide them with a lawyer at the expense of the state.
Legal support to prisoners is provided not only by the state, but also by various public and non-profit organizations (for example, the Thai Law Society).
The role of a lawyer is especially important at the stage of filing an appeal. A well-written, well-reasoned appeal increases the chances of a positive response.
The International Federation for Human Rights has repeatedly published reports indicating that Thailand has significant deficiencies in the judicial system, namely the lack of quality legal protection.
All this leads to the fact that often a person sentenced to the death penalty has no chance of a change of sentence or a pardon. His life is saved only by the declared moratorium on the death penalty, which is still in force in the country. But how long it will last is not reported, and if so, the notorious sword of Damocles continues to hang over the heads of the suicide bombers …
Vladimir BARSOV