BANGKOK — 2004 · Missing Person

The Disappearance of Lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit

UnsolvedSources: ALast updated: 14 October 2026

Somchai Neelapaijit, a Muslim human rights lawyer, disappeared on the evening of 12 March 2004 in Bangkok's Ramkhamhaeng area. Witnesses saw four men forcibly pull him from his car. Somchai was defending five Muslim suspects accused over a raid on an army camp in Narathiwat in the south, and the day before he vanished he had publicly said his clients had been tortured in custody. Five police officers were tried for coercion; one was convicted in 2006, but all were eventually acquitted in later proceedings. Because Thai law did not recognise enforced disappearance as a crime, more serious charges could not be brought. The Department of Special Investigation closed the case in 2016 without identifying culprits. His body has never been found.

Date: 2004
Place: Ramkhamhaeng, Bangkok, Thailand, Bangkok, TH
Category: Missing Person
Case Status: Unsolved
Coordinates: 13.7560, 100.6200 ↗

Timeline of Events

11 March 2004Somchai said his clients had been tortured in custody.
12 March 2004Four men took him from his car in Ramkhamhaeng.

2006One of five police officers was convicted; four were acquitted.
2015–2016The defendants were acquitted again; the investigation was closed.

Sources

Wikipedia — Somchai Neelapaijit en.wikipedia.org ↗
Human Rights Watch — Thai Lawyer's 'Disappearance' Unsolved 15 Years On hrw.org ↗
ICJ — Thailand: effective investigation of enforced disappearance of Somchai Neelapaijit needed after Supreme Court ruling icj.org ↗
Wikipedia
Human Rights Watch
International Commission of Jurists

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