Two bodies with concrete in their stomachs have washed up on the Thai-Laos border, as fears grow they belong to missing critics of the military regime in Bangkok.
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A prominent anti-junta campaigner disappeared last month in Laos, where he had been living in exile, but Thailand's Deputy Police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul has denied any connection to the bodies found this week. The victims are unidentified and DNA testing is expected to take several weeks.
The bodies were on the banks of the Mekong River on Monday, with their hands cuffed and feet tied. They had been gutted and their stomachs stuffed with chunks of concrete.
It comes as Thailand prepares for elections next month, the first since the 2014 poll which was annulled shortly before Prayuth Chan-o-cha seized power in a coup. It is also a sensitive time for discussions of the monarchy, as King Maha Vajiralongkorn has set May 4-6 as the date for elaborate coronation ceremonies.
Surachai Danwattananusorn, 75, became the fifth Thai activist to disappear in Laos in the past two years when he was last heard from on December 12. Surachai's wife told BBC Thai she had seen photographs of one of the bodies and confirmed it did not belong to him, and she held out hope he would be found alive. The photographs showed a victim who was much younger than her husband.
BBC Thai also reported that the discovery had set off alarm bells among exiles who are critics of the military or monarchy, with fears others could be targeted in the coming months.
Human Rights Watch Thailand senior researcher Sunai Phasuk said Surachai's disappearance "should not be treated with silence or swept under the rug".
"The Lao government needs to move quickly to ascertain the facts and publicly report their findings – including an assessment of Surachai’s fate and whereabouts, and who might be responsible for his alleged disappearance.
"Since 2016 at least five Thai anti-monarchy activists, including Surachai, have gone missing in the capital city of Laos. But the Lao government has failed to conduct any serious investigation. Lao authorities have routinely dismissed concerns raised by the UN agencies and human rights groups about these cases."
Surachai was convicted in 2012 of insulting the previous king under Thailand's harsh lese-majeste laws. A former senior member of the Communist Party of Thailand, he had been a political prisoner in the turmoil of 1976.
Of the other missing figures, the most notorious is anti-monarchist Wuthipong Kachathamakul, also known as Ko Tee, who was abducted from his Vientiane house in July 2017.
