With 3 updates: Amsterdam and Peroff’s latest ICC filing

Law firm for the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), Amsterdam and Peroff, have presented their second detailed report to the International Criminal Court. It is titled “Application to Investigate the Situation of the Kingdom of Thailand with regard to the Commission of Crimes Against Humanity.”

The report is 294 pages long, so PPT hasn’t yet had time to read it. It appears to update and expand the firms earlier report, with extensive use of witness reports. It is bound to be explosive.

Update 1: Here’s the first news report PPT has seen. We highlight some points here but read the whole story. Note that there are errors in this report (e.g. stating that Abhisit Vejjajiva assumed power in 2006, so the full 294 pages is the best source:

The Thai government’s crackdown on “red shirt” protesters last spring was planned nearly four years in advance and modelled on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, a report contends, saying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva approved military force against unarmed civilians.

The plans included the construction of a full-scale mock-up of Rachadamnoen Ave. — an upscale street sometimes known as Bangkok’s Champs Élysées — where protesters were killed and injured last April 10, the report contends. The mock-up, which was built at a training ground used by the 11th regiment of the Thai army, included “killing zones.”

Thai military personnel, including snipers, rehearsed at the mock-up as early as February 2007, the report alleges.

The application also includes a statement from “Anonymous Witness No. 22” — described as an amalgamation of testimony from several active-duty officers in the Thai military, who would be in grave danger if their identities were exposed, though the lawyers say they will provide all names to the court’s prosecutors.

One potential obstacle the red shirts face in getting the court to consider their complaint is whether Thailand comes within the court’s jurisdiction.

But Amsterdam and Peroff argue the court still has the power to investigate Abhisit for possible crimes against humanity because he is a British citizen, born in England on Aug. 3, 1964.

The court has the authority to investigate and prosecute people who are citizens of countries that are its members, which the United Kingdom is.

Update 2: Here’s a draft statement by Joe Witty as a former Green Beret commenting on the action by the Abhisit government and another draft statement by Anonymous Witness No. 22.

Update 3: More details at Robert Amsterdam’s blog.

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