Thaksin hires war crimes lawyer
Convicted ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra's legal team said Monday it had hired an international war crimes expert to help investigate clashes between troops and red shits protesters in Bangkok in April and May.
Dutch professor GJ Alexander Knoops, previously involved in cases on the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, will help attempt to bring the Thai government to court for alleged human rights violations, a statement by his legal team said.
The statement accused the Thai government of "flagrantly breaching its obligations as a member of the international community and the United Nations Human Rights Council".
The statement by Thaksin's lawyers claimed at least 140 Reds had been arrested, and that most were being held illegally without charge or access to a lawyer.
The Abhisit government has accused Thaksin of "masterminding" the bloodshed surrounding the anti-government rallies. A Thai court last week approved a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in connection with the protests.
Professor Knoops, of Knoops & Partners, is a world authority on war crimes, state crimes against humanity and genocide.
He is working on cases before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the Special Court for Sierra-Leone, established by the United Nations and the Government of Sierra-Leone to "try those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996".
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