However, Justice Ministry deputy permanent secretary Pol Colonel Dusadee Arawuit, who has been criticised for supporting Jomsap’s request for a retrial despite knowing that at least two witnesses speaking in her defence had failed lie-detector tests, and Yodmongkol Sappaisansook, a senior lawyer from the Justice Ministry, would just be witnesses, he said.

He said Dusadee was responsible at a policy level and assigned subordinates to attend to the details so he might not have known about wrongdoing.

Thanasak said police investigators had completed the interviews of suspects and witnesses and gathering of evidence, identifying 11 civilians suspects who allegedly violated the law in supporting Jomsap’s alleged plot and were already facing charges.

In addition, 14 state officials who were involved in the re-investigation of new evidence to support Jomsap’s retrial application have been implicated.

Police will file charges of indiscretion, or failing to perform their duty or fully investigate the facts, against seven DSI officials, while the other seven will face both charges of indiscretion and nonfeasance, or failing to perform an act required by law. They will also be subject to disciplinary probes, he said.

Police would pass the case on to the National Anti-Corruption Commission for action against the accused officials, he said.

The Provincial Police Region 4 will notify the Justice Ministry about the actions against the officials this week and forward all of the cases to public prosecutors, he added.

In 2013, the Supreme Court convicted Jomsap of hitting and killing an elderly cyclist with her pickup and fleeing the scene.

Although she was later released early on a royal pardon, she had tried to overturn the conviction while publicly insisting that she was innocent. Her claim gained credibility after a man named Sap Wapi claimed that he – not Jomsap – was responsible for the fatal accident.

But last month, the Supreme Court rejected Jomsap’s request for a retrial and also pointed to an alleged conspiracy to hire a scapegoat to claim responsibility for the accident for which Jomsap was convicted. Police have since promised to identify everyone involved in perjury in the case.

SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE and employment are the major factors that determine whether prisoners will successfully reintegrate into society and not reoffend, a seminar on prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration has concluded.

The Justice Ministry seminar titled “Beyond the Prison Walls: Multi-stakeholder Perspectives on Prisoner Rehabilitation and Reintegration” was held by the Thailand Institute of Justice yesterday.

Participants heard that authorities consider prisons as rehabilitation institutions to return good citizens to society, while a new agency will be established to help ex-convicts adjust to the world outside of prison.

The seminar also heard that there were many challenges to reintroduce former prisoners into society, such as social bias against ex-convicts and a lack of a proper monitoring system to prevent them from reoffending.

Wittaya Suriyawong, Justice Ministry deputy permanent secretary, said punishment had limitations even though imprisonment was an important mechanism in the criminal justice system.

“The concept of prison is changing over time, as a place to separate bad people, a hospital to treat the bad behaviour of criminals, to a school to teach them. Thai authorities have also changed the idea of prison and consider it as a place to rehabilitate convicts and return good citizens to society,” Wittaya said.

He said past experiences from the war on drugs showed a steep increase in the number of prisoners, but authorities had learned that heavy prison sentences for narcotic offenders were not only ineffective in suppressing the drug problem, but also led to overcrowded prisons.

According to the Corrections Department, the overall number of prisoners in Thailand as of December 1 was 319,561, with 235,373 convicted under the Narcotics Act.

Wittaya said long jail terms also did not help change the behaviour of prisoners, because people in difficult circumstances would get used to their situations.

He added that the Justice Ministry was planning to open a new agency, which would exclusively work with stakeholders for the smooth reintegration of former prisoners into society.

However, Corrections Department director-general Pol Colonel Narat Sawettanan said there were many obstructions to the effort, as prisoners were regarded by many people as bad people and threats to society because of misunderstandings and bias. Narat said strong social bias against ex-convicts alienated them and denied them employment opportunities, which made them more vulnerable to repeating their offence.

According to the Justice Ministry report, in 2014 there was a 14-per-cent rate of re-offending within one year, while 27 per cent committed an offence within three years of their release. Economic and social factors and a lack of social acceptance were found to be major causes.

Employment opportunities were a key factor in more effective social reintegration and reducing the risk of repeat offences.

Narat also said there were still no regulations to create incentives for businesses to employ ex-convicts and the probation system did not have the ability to monitor former prisoners.

Speaking at a temple in Sawi district as the family prepared for the funeral, Nontiya’s father Chao Krowjatturat said he had never thought that the suspect, Ronnachai Panchart, would kill his 25-year-old daughter as they had been in love since childhood.

A nurse who lived next to Nontiya’s room at Salui Community Hospital in Thasae found her body on Tuesday morning after she did not show up for work at the hospital. The window of Nontiya’s room had been broken and she had a single shotgun wound in the chest.

Security cameras at the hospital showed a hooded man, who appeared drunk, walk in and out of the hospital residence at about 1am.

Police summonsed Ronnachai for interrogation after Chao said he had wanted to cancel the wedding because he had a new girlfriend who worked at his office. However, Nontiya reportedly had refused and insisted the wedding be held on Sunday.

Ronnachai was arrested and reportedly confessed after police found at his house a hood and clothes that matched those of the man in the video footage.

The man claimed that he had tried many times to talk Nontiya out of the wedding but failed. The victim also reportedly had followed him and his girlfriend and threatened them.

Chao told reporters that he wanted police to trace Bt700,000 and 10 baht of gold that had gone missing from his daughter’s room.

“I hope that Ronnachai is sentenced to death for what he did to my daughter. I suspect that his new girlfriend was involved in the crime,” he said.

The Thai People in Eight Mekong Provinces Network working group met in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district yesterday, with participants concluding that the Mekong was under imminent threat of irreversible damage by proposed hydropower dam projects on the main tributary in China, Laos and Cambodia. The discussion also highlighted that there were still no effective legal tools to regulate projects.

China’s potential cancellation of the Mekong River navigation channel improvement project was also a major discussion topic. The working group considered whether the move was because the Chinese government had recently passed a new law forcing the Chinese investment board to respect the laws of destination countries and ensure that investments did not affect the environment or violate human rights.

On Tuesday, Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai said China would change the scope of the project or cancel it in order to relieve the concerns of Thai people over the adverse impacts to the environment and people’s livelihoods.

Community Resources Centre coordinator Sor Rattanamanee Polkla said China’s adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights was good news, resulting in a more positive trend of development on the river.

The network members also concluded that Chinese project owners in the region had become more active working with local people about their projects.

However, Sor Rattanamanee emphasised the need for an international law to safeguard the environment and human rights in the Mekong River region, given the current lack of oversight and existing projects generating problems for the environment and riverside residents.

“Even though Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam signed the Mekong Agreement 1995, there has been no real enforcement of the regulations in the agreement,” she said.

“Moreover, we have found that there have been many attempts to wrongly interpret projects’ scope to avoid the enforcement of the regulations in the Mekong Agreement, such as in the Khong-Loei-Chi-Mun water diversion project and the Mekong River navigation channel improvement project.”

She said everyone had a duty to demand and campaign for legal tools for environmental and human rights protections.

Meanwhile, Somkiat Keuanchiangsa, coordinator of the Network for Preservation of Natural Resources and Lanna Culture, also said strategic environmental assessments should be conducted before environmental impact to assess the value of projects in all aspects weighed against the cost to the river ecosystem.

Somkiat also asked the governments of Mekong countries to review the damage to the river over the past two decades, as people who depend on the region’s natural resources were suffering due to the degrading ecosystem resulting from development projects.

The jail terms were then suspended and the company was fined an additional Bt20,000.

The malfunction and accidental release of an aerosol gas happened on the night of March 13, 2016 while work was being done to improve the building’s chemical fire-extinguishing system at a document security vault in the basement of SCB Park Building.

The oxygen-depleting aerosol, which is intended to put out a fire in a tightly-contained environment without causing damage to documents, was believed to have caused the deaths of five victims at the scene, while three others later died in hospital.

Mega Planet was contracted by SCB to carry out the fire-system improvements.

The court found Mega Planet executives Napong Suksanguan, 45, and Adisorn Foda, 51, and company engineer Jirawat Prempree, 30, as the first, second and third defendants, while the company was the ninth defendant, guilty of violating the Criminal Code’s Section 291, or negligence that caused death.

The offence has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of Bt20,000.

Citing the lack of previous criminal records and that the incident occurred while a fire-security system unconnected to Mega Planet was being shut down, the judge suspended the jail terms and ordered the three men to pay Bt2.1 million to relatives of three deceased victims who joined the lawsuit.

The compensation also required the payment of 7.5-per-cent interest from the day of the accident to the full payment.

The court also acquitted the other six defendants, including Jones Lang LaSalle Management Co, which managed the building, and its executive Somkid Tan-ngarm, 59, a subcontractor employee Khajornjit Phromdeerat, 45, and the project foreman Boonserm Krajad, 36.

The clip, which has garnered more than one million views since it was posted on Monday, shows the Pattaya zoo attendant jabbing the chained animal in the face with a stick as tourists take turns posing with or sitting on top of the big cat for pictures.

“This tiger gets poked all day, hundreds of times a day so it will roar for the picture with tourists,” wrote Edwin Wiek, the founder of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, who filmed the video and posted it on Facebook.

A spokesperson for the zoo, The Million Years Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm, told AFP the tiger attendant had been transferred to another job over the incident.

“The owner he loves animals and he will not allow staff to hurt his animals,” she added.

Tourist dollars and the lure of the animal selfie fuel a lucrative but controversial wildlife tourism industry in Thailand, where opportunities to ride elephants, hold monkeys and pet tigers are all available for a price.

Animal rights groups have long criticised the industry as inhumane, with chained up animals kept in small quarters with inadequate diets or veterinary care.

The Pattaya zoo’s website shows pictures of white tigers, bears, camels, deer and other exotic animals in outdoor pens. It also advertises a daily show featuring a man fighting bare-handed with adult crocodiles.

“We believe that the taking of selfies with wildlife should be stopped completely,” Wiek told AFP, adding that such behaviour is also risky for humans.

“Every year hundreds of people are bitten or clawed in similar situations.”

In 2016 the kingdom made international headlines after police raided its infamous Tiger Temple, a tourist site accused of links to the illegal wildlife trade.

Pop star Rihanna also inadvertently highlighted another thriving illegal trade in 2013 when she posted a selfie with a slow loris in Phuket.

Earlier this month boxer Floyd Mayweather visited Phuket and posted photos on his Instagram account showing him riding an elephant, another practice criticised by rights advocates.

A July report by World Animal Protection said Thailand was the global epicentre of the elephant tourism industry, with the majority of its 2,198 tourist pachyderms held in inadequate conditions.//AFP

Science and Technology Minister Suvit Maesincee presided at the opening this week in the Makkawan Rangsan Room of the Thai Army Club.

On hand were Chinese Ambassador Lyu Jian, CAS vice dean Zhang Jie, and ACM Charlie Chandruang, chairman of the National Legislative Assembly’s committee on science and tech.

Suvit said the collaboration would be helpful in encouraging the private sector to study, exchange and develop knowledge and expertise with China.

He said his ministry was committed to strong cooperation to ensure that advanced knowledge is used to improve people’s wellbeing and help the country implement the “Thailand 4.0” strategy.

Zhang noted Thailand’s “significant role” in Southeast Asia as an innovation hub, the reason the CAS selected Thailand as the first overseas location for such a centre.

He said the CSA had signed agreements with many Thai research institutes, universities and foundations to strengthen cooperation.

He said the centre would promote 2018 as the Year of Innovation between China and Asean.

Family and friends of Nontiya, a dental official at a community hospital, woke up to face the tragedy on Tuesday morning as they were preparing to attend the wedding ceremony between Nontiya and Ronnachai Panchart, 26, an official with the Provincial Electricity Authority, which was scheduled for Sunday.

Police turned their attention to Ronnachai after the father of the bride revealed that his daughter had discovered that her fiance had been engaged in an affair with another woman, whose name was not revealed.

The father said his daughter had told him two months ago that Ronnachai wanted to cancel the wedding, but she had refused. A heated argument led to Ronnachai assaulting her.

During the period, she posted on her Facebook page: “I’m tired”, “I’m annoyed” and “I’m desperate”.

Police said they summoned Ronnachai who, after an interrogation, gave in and confessed.

The cover of Nontiya’s Facebook yesterday still displayed her pre-wedding photo with Ronnachai, both smiling and happy. Earlier Nontiya had also posted her wedding card, inviting her friends to join her on her happy day.

Nurse Sangduen Taothong, 39, whose room was next to Nontiya’s, told police that Nontiya worked at the hospital for about four years and was in love with Ronnachai before he was hired by the PEA.

“Ronnachai is a quiet man but they had frequent arguments lately after she found out that he had another woman, who is younger and richer, in Lang Suan district. Nontiya tried to break up with him many times but he won her back after promising to end his relationship with that woman,” she said.

On Monday night, Sangduen said, she heard a loud argument but did not pay much attention as the couple had quarrelled frequently.

“I fell asleep but was woken up at about 1am by the sound of gunfire. I was afraid of going to her room. So I knocked on her door at about 9.30am, because she had not left the room. No one answered the door, so I opened the door and found her on the bed, dead. So I alerted police,” Sangduen said.

Pol Maj-General Sontichai Awattanakulthep, Chumphon police commander, said Ronnachai initially denied being involved with the death of his girlfriend, although he admitted that he had another girlfriend.

Police escorted him to his house in Lang Suan and found clothes and a hood that was the same as the one worn by the man captured by the security cameras near Nontiya’s house.

Sontichai said Ronnachai confessed after police found the evidence, saying that he was angry because Nontiya had not only refused to cancel the wedding but had also followed and threatened him and his new girlfriend, urging them to break up.

According to Ronnachai, he decided to kill Nontiya and his new girlfriend picked him up after the murder.

Sontichai said Ronnachai would be charged with premeditated murder, possessing a gun without a licence and carrying a pistol in public without permission.

“We have received very useful information from the Central Investigation Bureau [CIB]. So far, we have not yet concluded the case because we need to wait for results from forensic tests,” Provincial Police Region 7 deputy commander Pol Maj-General Krissana Sapdej said yesterday.

National Police Commissioner Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda assigned Krissana to head the investigation into the dispute between teacher Preecha Kraikruan and retired policeman Charoon Wimul over five winning lottery tickets.

Charoon cashed the tickets for Bt30 million last month, but then Preecha came forward with allegations that Charoon was not the legitimate owner of the tickets.

According to Preecha’s claim, he bought the lottery tickets from a vendor he was familiar with but he lost them and suspected that Charoon had found them. Both Charoon and Preecha live in Kanchanaburi province.

Believing that local police had taken sides with Preecha, Charoon submitted a petition to Chakthip in Bangkok.

Provincial Police Region 7 headquarters has taken over the case from local police in cooperation with several other police agencies.

CIB chief Pol Lt-General Thitiraj Nhongharnpitak and deputy chief Maj-General Chavalite Sawangpuech attended a meeting with Krissana and representatives of the Crime Suppression Division and the Technology Crime Suppression Division yesterday.

Krissana said the Technology Crime Suppression Division would help investigate both Charoon and Preecha’s phone records.

“We will solve the case quickly,” he said.

Police are currently considering six disputes over winning lottery tickets. Of the others, two are in Bangkok, one in Udon Thani, one in Suphan Buri and one in Kanchanaburi.