Saudi joins 1990 kidnap lawsuit

Saudi joins 1990 kidnap lawsuit

The Criminal Court has allowed the mother of Saudi businessman Mohammad al-Ruwaili to become a co-plaintiff in the 1990 kidnapping and detention case of her son.

Atik al-Ruwaili, an elder brother of Saudi businessman Mohammad al-Ruwaili, who went missing in 1990, arrives at the Criminal Court to attend a hearing after his mother decided to join prosecutors as a co-plaintiff in the case into the alleged kidnapping of the businessman. SURAPOL PROMSAKA NA SAKOLNAKORN

Atik al-Ruwaili, an elder brother of the missing businessman representing his mother, had submitted to the court a handwritten request for her to be a co-plaintiff.

The lawyers for the five suspects objected, saying they did not believe the request was really written by the mother.

After querying Mr Ruwaili's brother and a senior official from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the handwritten request, the court decided the mother was eligible to become a co-plaintiff in the case.

The court also informed both the plaintiffs and the defendants that the prosecutors would again travel to the United Arab Emirates to hear key witness Pol Lt Col Suwitchai Kaewphaluek's testimony there on May 31.

The Constitution Court had ruled that evidence to be obtained from the UAE, where Pol Lt Col Suwitchai fled, without the defendants' lawyers being witness, would be against the constitution and therefore invalid in court.

The Constitution Court's ruling prompted the Criminal Court to instruct the prosecutors to travel to the UAE to hear the witness's testimony again but this time in the defendants' lawyers' presence.

The defendants' lawyers, however, refused to travel to the UAE with the prosecutors and insisted that overseas hearings of witness testimony were unlawful.

By representing one of the plaintiffs, Mr Ruwaili's brother, meanwhile, is required to testify in court on July 2.

He said through an interpreter yesterday that he now felt more confident in the Thai judicial system but admitted that over the past 23 years his family had been living in pain over his brother's disappearance in Thailand.

So far, he said he was satisfied with the proceedings in his brother's case.

About 10 Saudi officials also attended the Criminal Court session yesterday to follow up on the case.

Mr Ruwaili had been implicated in a gems theft and disappeared after being interrogated by police. Some believe the officers in charge of the investigation were behind his disappearance and probable killing.

Five police officers have been implicated in Mr Ruwaili's disappearance, including former Provincial Police Region 5 commissioner Pol Lt Gen Somkid Boonthanom. The DSI named Pol Lt Col Suwitchai as the key witness in the case but he fled the country after being sentenced to life in prison in connection with the murder of Lao dissidents.

He left Thailand during the appeal stage and an arrest warrant was issued for him in 2009.

Pol Lt Col Suwitchai, who is suspected of being involved in the alleged kidnapping and detention of Mr Ruwaili, was eventually found in the UAE.

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