INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The two activists had fled after 2014 military coup in Thailand
bodies police say were found "stuffed with concrete" along Mekong River border with Laos.Rights groups had expressed concern at
disappearance last year of two men and another activist in self-imposed exile in Laos, where all three had fled under threat of arrest after
2014 military coup in Thailand.DNA tests confirmed two bodies, which were discovered late last month, belong to Chatcharn Buppawan, 56, and
Kraidej Luelert, 46, Thai authorities confirmed on Wednesday.The two were close aides to political activist Surachai Danwattananusorn, 78,
who has been operating online radio programmes critical of Thailand's junta and monarchy from Laos
He also disappeared last month and is still missing.The police said cause of their deaths was unknown."There are no signs of bullet holes,
but there is a wound in their stomach which has been cut open and stuffed with concrete and tied to make it sink
There are also no stab wounds," Police Major General Thanachart Rodklongtan told Reuters.The activists' disappearance from Laos raised
concerns among rights groups that critics of Thai monarchy and army are being targeted in exile.A military officer, however, dismissed any
idea of army involvement in disappearances."This group of people live outside of our area or responsibility, we could not do anything,"
Lieutenant General Tharakorn Thamwinthorn, Second Army Region commander, told reporters."They are in Laos for many years
We do not know whether they have any problem with people there or not," he said.The Thai military seized power in a 2014 coup to end weeks
of political turmoil and street demonstrations.Dozens have fled Thailand since coup, including cabinet ministers, university professors and
Some have gained asylum in western countries, while majority live in neighbouring Laos and Cambodia.Many of those had been charged with
Thailand's tough lese-majeste laws, which can carry sentences of up to 15 years imprisonment for defaming, insulting or threatening members
of royal family.None of these activists has been publicly extradited back to Thailand but at least two other activists have disappeared in
Laos, one 2016 and another in 2017, Human Rights Watch said."It is clear now that we are in danger," said Trairong Sinseubpol, 55, another
"Things are now very different Laos doesn't look that safe now."(Except for headline, this story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
