THAILAND CONDEMNS 19 TO DEATH

court officials said the sentences were handed down at the conclusion of five methamphetamine and heroin cases involving 21 people, including three women and a Chinese national. Two of those convicted were given a life sentence and a 17-year jail term, officials said.
The five cases involved a total of two million pills of methamphetamine and about 30 kg of heroin.
Chief Judge Wichit Leetumchaiyo said that 19 death sentences was the largest number ever dished out in modern history by a Thai court in a single day.
"It just happened that the court ruled on five drug cases, with almost two dozens suspects, in one day," he said. "That amount is the largest ever done here."
The convicts were Wan or Ek Intaeng, Amnuay Meesri, Chenlong sae Wang, Chamnong or Suthisak Reeja, Sue sae Lee, Kanyos Rujisuchon, Boonchuay Pengphit, Karoon Premkitpornpattana, Kongdej Paninthorn, Arom Onlamai, Kittisak Thongnoom, Sommat Raweksom, Kachorn sae Mee, Khemthat Artyaemsuan, Taweep Plaokrathok, Singthong Pimmawong, Chan Siprasert, Kampha Phatthawong, and Thongdee (last name not known).
The death penalty applies in Thailand to suspects caught with more than 100 grams of class-A narcotics, heroin or amphetamine, and especially where the prisoner is found guilty after pleading not guilty at the start of their trial. A guilty plea allows judicial leniency - 25 years to life in jail instead of execution for heroin trafficking and export.
Judge Wichit said the death sentences were handed down even though some defendants confessed because the amounts of narcotics involved in the cases were so large.
"Although I am a soft-hearted judge, I can´t stand these traffickers," he said. "Think of the money they would have made and the impact on people."
Since the sentences were handed down in the court of first instance, the 19 convicted persons still have right to appeal their sentences to two higher courts - the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
Thailand, which has long been a market and transit point for heroin and opium from notorious Golden Triangle drug zone where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar converge, has been flooded in recent years by methamphetamines and other amphetamine-type stimulants from the same area.