Thai Drug Police and New Rewards from ONCB

A recent change in the way that Thai drug police get rewarded for their work will be realised at the end of May 2020, according to the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB). These changes will provide more reward money to Thai police officers who are working on drug cases. These new changes will be enacted on 31 May 2020. The new rewards structure could potentially mean significant pay-outs for drug cases in Thailand. We have detailed the updates below, based on the % reward and what needs to be done for the police to collect said reward.

Thailand Bail COVID-19 Update (May 2020)

Thailand Bail is dedicated to providing updated information on the COVID-19 crisis and how it is affecting lawyers, police, court appointments, prison visits, and other aspects of the legal industry in Thailand. This article is a follow-up to the previous post “Thailand Bail COVID-19 Update (April 2020)” which highlighted how the coronavirus was affecting the courts and prisons in Thailand in April 2020. Since that last update, there have been some updates for the courts and prisons in Thailand, and we will go through those in this article.

Thailand Bail COVID-19 Update (April 2020)

Thailand Bail would like to take this time and reach out to our clients and partners about the COVID-19 situation in Thailand as it relates to criminal cases and immigration issues in Bangkok, Koh Samui, Pattaya, Udon Thani, Phuket, Hua Hin, Samut Prakarn, and other places. This article will address postponed court hearings, as well as court hearings that are not postponed, immigration announcements for case visas / defendant’s visas, as well as general information about the situation of the coronavirus / COVID-19 in Thailand.

Bail in Thailand 2020: Bail on the Weekends

In what is probably the biggest change the rules on bail in Thailand, the president of the Supreme Court recently announced that bail can now be applied for on weekends. Thailand Bail can confirm that this new rule, announced on 25 December 2019, is now in force at the courts around Thailand. Thailand Bail just managed the successful bail applications for two foreigners who were arrested for drug cases in Koh Phangan and sent to the Koh Samui Provincial Court. Under the old rules, we would have had to wait until Monday to file our bail paperwork, but with the new rule, we were able to file our bail documents on Saturday, and both people were released the same day.

Thai Prison – What Life is Like Inside the Bangkok Hilton

If you have ever spent any time inside a Thai prison, you will know how difficult life can be on the inside. There is constant overcrowding, disease, lack of clean food and water, immense heat, lack of access to people outside the prison, occasional violence and death, and other challenges. Whilst some of these aspects are the same in every prison around the world, Thai prisons have certain unique challenges. The Bangkok Hilton, a fictitious name typically associated with the Bang Kwang Prison, has some of the strictest rules of any Thai prison.

Prisoner Transfer Agreements in Thailand – Thailand to Sign 2 New PTA’s in 2020

The lawyers and international case managers at Thailand Bail have helped many people successfully fight their criminal cases in Thailand and avoid prison. But there are thousands of people each year who we do not have the opportunity to work for, and many of these people end up in Thai prison. We receive emails and phone calls each week from friends and family members of foreign inmates who are in one of the many prisons in Thailand. Thailand Bail does offer post-case legal services, and one of the most-requested services is to help foreign prisoners in Thai prisons get repatriated to their home countries. Therefore, today’s post is about prisoner transfer agreements in Thailand and the recent news that Thailand will sign two new prisoner transfer agreements with Malaysia and Ukraine. Please read below for more details about prisoner transfer agreements between Thailand and other countries.

New Law: Military Court Cases Transferred to Civilian Courts

On 30 June 2019, Prime Minister Prayut announced a change in the laws regarding military court cases in Thailand. All current civilian cases in the military courts of Thailand that have not yet been finalised (reached a final judgment) were to immediately be transferred to the civilian courts. This is very significant news for defendants with cases in the military courts around the country. Thai and foreign defendants alike will have their cases moved to the provincial court in the province where the alleged crime happened. Prime Minister Prayut explained that the change was due to the handover of power from the military (from 2014) to the people after the election that saw the military-supported party win the majority.

The Importance of Witness Testimony in Criminal Cases in Thailand

In today’s post, we would like to discuss how important witness testimony is in criminal cases in Thailand. This critical element of the criminal case trial process should not be ignored, since the judges in the criminal courts of Thailand can consider witness testimony from a credible witness to be as important as physical evidence. The lawyers and case managers at Thailand Bail have seen other Thai lawyers make the mistake in not preparing adequately for trial, especially for the witnesses from the prosecution. In this post, we will look at what kind of witnesses will have their testimony considered by the court and what makes a witness credible or not credible. Finally, we will briefly examine some ways in which witnesses can be made to seem not credible.

Thailand Bail Achieves Positive Result in Court in Under 1 Week

Thailand Bail recently got a very positive result for a criminal case involving a foreign defendant in the Samut Prakarn Provincial Court in Samut Prakarn, Thailand, charged with violating the Firearms Act of Thailand. This case was very challenging for our lawyers and interpreters, since we needed to accomplish a positive decision in a very short amount of time. Faced with the challenge of time constraints, we worked overtime and through the weekend to complete all work.

Thailand Bail Wins in Court!

Thailand Bail recently won a very important criminal case involving a foreign defendant in the Udon Thani Provincial Court in Udon Thani, Thailand, charged with attempted murder of two Thai women. This case was very challenging for our lawyers and interpreters, since there were 4 witnesses against our client, swearing to the court that he had tried to kill these two Thai women. After months of dedicated preparation, we executed the plan in court during the trial, resulting in a no-prison-time verdict for our client, who only had to pay a small fine as a penalty for this crime that could have landed him in prison for 50 years. We received recognition for this from the defendant’s embassy in Bangkok for our relentless work to get a positive judgment in this case.