Missing Thai lawyer's body burned, dumped in river

BANGKOK, Nov 2 (Reuters) A Thai Muslim human rights lawyer who vanished two years ago while defending suspects from the rebellious south was killed and his body burned, then dumped in a river, a Justice Ministry spokesman said today.

Circumstantial evidence had led investigators to conclude that about 10 people abducted Somchai Neelaphaichit in Bangkok in March 2004, killed him and burned his body at a dump site 100 km (60 miles) away in Ratchaburi province, Piyawat Kingkate said.

Somchai's body was burned in a 200-litre oil drum, then chopped into pieces and dumped into the Mae Glong River, Piyawat told Reuters after prosecutors and investigators met to speed up the case following the September 19 military coup.

Forensic experts went to the dump site again today and planned to spend a week combing it for evidence, Somchai said.

The case was revived after coup leaders set up a panel to speed up a probe which languished under the government of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Army commander and coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said this week he had been ''fully informed'' about the hurdles to the investigation, but could not disclose the details.

Piyawat said both police officers and civilians were suspected of involvement in the murder which outraged human rights groups.

Somchai, 53 when he disappeared, represented four Thais accused of belonging to the Jemaah Islamiah militant network, often called the Southeast Asia branch of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda. He had accused police of torturing his clients.

Last January, a Bangkok court cleared four of five policemen accused of ''disappearing'' Somchai, sparking accusations of an official cover-up. The fifth was given a three-year jail term for illegally detaining the lawyer.

REUTERS SSC KP1626