<div> <div>Evidence submitted by the Army in the case of the summary execution of a Lahu activist is unusable, a defence lawyer has claimed.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Although the trial in the killing of ethnic Lahu activist Chaiyapoom Pasae began over seven months ago, the court has not yet received the Army’s CCTV footage, critical evidence which recorded soldiers shooting the activist.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to Sumitchai Hattasan, the lawyer for Chaiyapoom’s family, the Army had already sent the CCTV hard disk to the police, but the file cannot be opened. </div></div>

<p>As a provincial court began the hearing on the case of the summary killing of a young Lahu activist by a soldier, the lawyer of the slain activist family said the prime evidence on the case might still be withheld by the military.</p>

<p>Police have raided the village of a murdered Lahu activist and arrested several of his family members in an alleged drug crackdown.</p> <p>On 29 May 2017, policemen and officers from the Narcotics Suppression Bureau<a href="https://www.matichon.co.th/news/569339">&nbsp;arrested&nbsp;</a>five people from Ban Kong Phak Ping in Chiang Dao District of Chiang Mai.</p> <p>Among the five is Chanthana Pasae, 20, a relative of&nbsp;<a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/7020">Chaiyapoom Pasae</a>, a young ethnic Lahu activist who was summarily killed by a soldier on 17 March.</p>

<p>A network of academics and civil society groups in Chiang Mai have placed a plaque on the spot where a young Lahu activist was summarily killed by a soldier to call for justice.</p> <p>On 17 May 2017, a network of academics based in Chiang Mai University led by Attachak Sattayanurak and Somchai Preechasinlapakun, history and law lecturers, and others attended a ceremony to place a plaque in an area close to the checkpoint in Chiang Dao District of Chiang Mai.</p>

<p>Academics and ethnic minorities in northern Thailand have demanded protection for the relatives of a young Lahu activist summarily killed by a soldier and witnesses of the killing. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>A network of academics and a number of ethnic minority groups from Chiang Mai on 24 April 2017 issued a joint statement over the summary killing of Chaiyapoom Pasae, a young ethnic Lahu activist who was shot dead by a soldier on 17 March.</p>

<p>A month after the summary killing of a young Lahu activist by a soldier, the police have revealed that the military has not yet sent the CCTV footage of the crime scene to them.</p> <p>On 17 April 2017, Pol Col Mongkhon Samphawaphon revealed to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bbc.com/thai/thailand-39619900?ocid=socialflow_facebook">BBC Thai</a>&nbsp;that the police have not received CCTV footage at the checkpoint where the Lahu activist Chaiyapoom Pasae was killed on 17 March.</p>

<p dir="ltr">“The trigger gave; I felt the smooth underside of the butt; and there, in that noise, sharp and deafening at the same time, is where it all started. I shook off the sweat and the sun. I knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day...”, Albert Camus, L'Étranger.</p> <p></p>

<p dir="ltr">Not even a month after the summary killing of Chaiyapoom Pasae, a 17-year-old Lahu activist, on 17 March 2017, paramilitary officers and soldiers shot dead two insurgent suspects in the restive Deep South. The authorities claimed that the two resisted arrest and exchanged gunfire with the officers. However, the sister of one of the slain insurgent suspects said they were unarmed and shot point blank after they were asked to step out of their car.</p>

<p>Civil society groups have urged an end to the culture of impunity after the latest summary killing in the restive Deep South while an insurgent group condemned the killing.</p> <p>Soldiers and paramilitary officers in Rueso District of Narathiwat on 29 March 2017 summarily killed Isma-ae Hama, 28, and Aseng Useng, 30.</p>

<p>Defending the soldier who shot dead a youth Lahu activist on suspicion of selling drugs, the national police chief said the activist could have shot soldiers.</p> <p>On 28 March 2017, at the National Police Headquarters in Bangkok, Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda, chief of the Royal Thai Police (RTP),&nbsp;<a href="http://m.prachachat.net/news_detail.php?newsid=1490678938">announced&nbsp;</a>that the police are now investigating the CCTV footage at the checkpoint where the Lahu activist Chaiyapoom Pasae was killed on 17 March.</p>

<div> <div>The military has refused to reveal footage of the summary execution of a Lahu activist, saying it might confuse the investigation process.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 27 March 2016, the 3rd Region Army chief Lt Gen Vijak Siribansop <a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/509666">said</a> the military has already sent to the police CCTV evidence of the checkpoint where Lahu activist Chaiyapoom Pasae was executed. The military therefore has no authority to reveal the evidence to the public without court permission. </div></div>

<p>Contrary to the claims of police, two Commissioners of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) have found that the recently slain Lahu activist made his living from selling coffee beans not illicit drugs.</p> <p>On 25 March 2017, Angkhana Neelapaijit and Tuenjai Deetes of the NHRC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.khaosod.co.th/special-stories/news_269988">visited the house</a>&nbsp;of Chaiyapoom Pasae of the Lahu ethnic minority who was summarily killed by soldiers on 17 March on suspicion of selling drugs.</p>