In the various updates and articles on this website much criticism has been directed against Thailand and Thai authorities. The more we have researched the case the role of Thai police seems to have been exaggerated. We would therefore like to extend an apology to all the serious, law-abiding, hard-working police-officers in Thailand for some of the statements made.

The original Thai police report clearly states that the original concept designed in 2009 that Kim Eriksson was “soon” to produce methamphetamine (so called “ice”) in his house came from the US DEA. And if you work in a police force – why should you not trust what one of the world’s most powerful agencies says?

The DEA stated they had a reliable source – an informer or “under-cover agent” – who had found out all about Kim’s plans. What the Thai police probably never were told was that an arrest warrant (for Conspiracy to manufacture and distribute a controlled substance (Ecstacy).”) was issued for this DEA informer - Swedish citizen Thomas Lilius - on October 17, 2001 for his role in the Triple-X-bust (read more here)

Why Lilius was not extradited to the USA we do not know. Those convicted got up to 18 years in prison and the man who supplied the know-how (Lilius) would probably have got quite a long prison sentence.

However, on August 20, 2008 the arrest warrant was lifted. The reason given is “Dismissed on oral motion of government.”

So are we to believe that the Bush Administration while in the midst of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as “the war on drugs”, sat down and said: Hey, this Lilius seems like a nice guy, why not let him be?

Or was there maybe some other reason?

According to Swedish internal police investigation 0150-K1764-11 police officers Cecilia Fant and Staffan Jonsson at the National Bureau of Investigation in Sweden (RKP) state that some time during the latter part of 2008 a deal was made between Lilius and the DEA. Remember the date the charges against Lilius were dropped? August 20, 2008.

If Lilius were to give the DEA “a big fish” the charges against him would be dropped, Fant and Jonsson say. It is also noted that at about the same time Ms Cecilia Fant had informal meetings with the DEA. What was said during these meetings we will never know. But at about the same time Lilius got in touch with Ms Fant offering his services as an informer. Maybe the DEA had recommended Lilius to call Ms Fant? She even sees this as a possibility herself.

Staffan Jonsson, her superior, declined the offer due to Lilius being “highly unreliable”. However, from that date Ms Fant and Lilius had regular (monthly) meetings. Only whatever notes Ms Fant has kept will provide information on what was discussed (if the notes have not been “lost”). This needs further investigation (see below).

It is a well known fact that Kim once was big in production and selling of steroids in Scandinavia, and was probably like a stone in the shoe for the Swedish police. They never seemed to be able to stop his operation despite him being put in prison.

Former DEA-agent Mike Levine who now is a lecturer, author and who also trains police forces in how to work against drug syndicates has often said that the DEA do a lot of trading: let one man go in order to catch another.

In a very interesting lecture Mike Levine explains how the DEA sometimes will exaggerate a person’s criminal status and role and make them what is called “Class One” drug criminal - which once was the level used only for people like Pablo Escobar and the likes of him.

Mike Levine explains: - “But as with most commodities they will be subject to inflation. When the Escobars and Suarezes become rare, you begin to use the term for lesser important criminals. So agents would inflate a mid-level doper, or sometimes a street dealer to Class One status based on "evidence supplied by a previously reliable informant". “

An article published in the Thai magazine Maxim describes Kim as a “Class One”. Where did the magazine get all the details from? Since Thai television companies had been invited to take part in the arrest of Kim it is not hard to assume that some person in some police force provided all the details about Kim. And the police force least likely to have all the information is the Thai police. It must have come from either the DEA or the Swedish police – or both.

Based on the information from the DEA the Thai police started their surveillance on March 27, 2009. Nothing illegal ever took place during more than a year’s surveillance. The Thai police must have started wondering: is this information really true?

That would have put pressure on the DEA who in their turn would have put pressure on Lilius, reminding him of the deal made in 2008. Since Kim had decided to return to Sweden on July 17, 2010 to serve his time in prison and then begin a new life with wife and newly born daughter, time was running out. So it must have been decided that the “crime” must take place in Thailand before July 17. Evidently July 14 was selected as “Crime-day”.

Kim’s trial
Kims trial was held June 14-17, 2011. A number of strange things soon became evident.

According to the surveillance report Thai police had taken photos of Kim, his wife and a "foreigner" when they made purchases of lab equipment and fully legal chemicals. At the time the photos were taken, the police evidently had information indicating that “ice” was going to be produced. One would think that police would take an interest in this totally unknown foreigner (Thomas Lilius), but no investigation whatsoever was made. Or as Police Colonel Sivapong Patpongpanich testified to the court:
-There was no investigation about who that male farang is, where he came from and why he accompanied the Defendant.

One might ask why? Or is it so that they knew all along that this was the “informer”. It seems strange that a country such as Thailand, fighting a war against drugs does not take a greater interest in a person helping a criminal suspect to buy chemicals. It just does not add up.

According to the court testimonies of the police officers no Thai police met the informer or “under-cover agent” as they call him. But in the Official Thai Complaint against Kim - 

Black case no. AorYor 4335-2553 

- it is mentioned that:

On 1^st September 2009 

Around 9.00 am., the investigation team prepared themselves to investigate and follow the target group in Rayong province.

Around 11.00 am., the concealed officers picked up the target group together with the undercover agent in Rayong province.

Around 11.15 am., the concealed officers, the undercover agent, and the target group traveled from the target house in Rayong province heading to Bangkok.

So what is true? Did any Thai police officers meet Lilius or not?

It may be so that Police Colonel Sivapong Patpongpanich and other top officers never met Lilius, but why were they not interested in who the man on the photo was, and why were none of the “concealed officers” questioned during the trial?

The testimony of forensic specialist at the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, Miss Kanyanun Kongpasaniroj, revealed a few very compromising facts.

1)     The Office of the Narcotics Control Board refused to release the test results to the Court so these could be studied and subsequent cross-examination of the witness take place. And this was also accepted by the court. How can a court deny the defendant his right to cross-examine a witness, and especially the most important one?

2) There no longer remains any of the 53 grams of “ice” that allegedly were produced in Kim's house. Acccording to a reference manual  the potential number of lab-runs that could be performed with 53 grams of ice can be counted in the '000:s using either method. Still, for some reason the main evidence in the case against Kim is no longer available, AND was not even available at the time of Kim's trial. 

Once again, one must ask why? Is it not mandatory to show the court the evidence? And who took the decision to discard the substance that remained after the lab-testing?

3) Another fact that was revealed is that no analysis of the “ice” was made with respect to which method had been used to synthesize it. You would think that such an analysis would be basic in all forensic work. It is a quite simple procedure since you can always find impurities which prove what method has been used in production. Why was this not done?

The crucial question to be asked is: Was there really any methamphetamine produced on July 14, 2010? Or were 53 grams of “ice” planted in the lab? Remember that Lilius was in a hurry to get the case completed by July 14, 2010. The police and the media were waiting to move in.  And if the recipe that is said to have been found in the lab had been used there should have been more than just 53 grams – there should have been 120-150 grams.

Kim's sentence

On Thursday 22 September 2011, the judge at the Criminal Court of Bangkok gave the verdict and read the sentence in the case Thailand vs. Mr. Kim Eriksson Sirawan. The judge sentenced Mr. Eriksson Sirawan to death for production and possession of methamphetamine. The sentence was immediately commuted to life imprisonment due the fact that Mr. Eriksson Sirawan had been cooperative through the case and had not denied the existence of equipment suitable for chemical production in his home in Rayong.

Kim's Appeal

On December 31, 2011 Kim's appeal was submitted. This focuses on a few main issues.

1) That the key witness – Thomas Lilius – could not be heard since he chose not to be there. Nor could any DEA representative be heard in order to shed some light on the planning of this case of entrapment.

2) The forensic evidence – or more correctly – the lack of forensic evidence meant that Kim's right to a fair trial was infringed. The fact is that there during the trial there was presented NO evidence of there ever having been any “ice” found in Kim's house, no evidence other than Miss Kanyanun Kongpasaniroj's word. And can that really enough for a court to condemn a man to life imprisonment?

3) No attention seemed either to have been paid to the Swedish inquiry that was submitted (and accepted) as evidence. In this inquiry Swedish police officers state quite clearly that Thomas Lilius was present in Thailand at the time of the "crime", was involved and that he had been paid by the DEA, as well as that DEA would drop the charges against him for his role in the Triple X bust. So it is beyond doubt that if there ever was any ice made on July 14, Lilius was the person who had the know-how to make it. Without him and the plan of entrapment there would never had been any illegal substance made Kim’s home – if there ever was.

Since Lilius knew Kim was returning to Sweden on July 17, 2010 and would be away for at least 3 years it is quite obvious that the DEA knew this too. But did they tell the Thai police? Kim would never be able to set up an ice-factory until possibly 3 years later – if ever. Because with Kim put away in prison in Sweden, who would Lilius give to the DEA in exchange for dropped charges?

If one had been a Thai official with knowledge of these latter facts, what would be the point of a costly investigation and trial of Kim as well as inviting a notorious drug-producer such as Lilius to the country?

Is it not so that the Thai police were kept very much in the dark concerning what was really happening? Is that fair to a country that really does have a considerable problem with for example ice? The answer must be NO.

So what happens next?

Following a complaint filed by reputable Swedish lawyers Robin Söder and Johan Eriksson an inquiry has been initiated by the Swedish Prosecutor’s International Section. Any crime committed by a Swedish citizen abroad can also be tried in Sweden, the law states. So Thomas Lilius involvement in the possible manufacturing of ice in Kim’s house on July 14, 2010 is to be investigated. Lilius as well as the Swedish police officers who are assumed to have knowledge of his activities at the time should thereby be heard. All documentation that previously has been classified as secret will be accessed and the full picture most likely revealed.

Sadly, Kim’s family were refused access to documents held by the Swedish police in Bangkok (Doc A-187-357/11) signed May 4, 2011 by Mr Per Lagerud and Ms Karin Mostad. The reason being it might interfere with an ongoing investigation and “international relations”. So quite clearly “international relations” are more important to Sweden than one of it’s citizens’ lives. Because the investigation in question had already been completed (Thai Official Complaint - Black Case No. AorYor 4335-2553).

One can only assume that the secret documents contain information which could show an active role of Swedish police officers in this case of entrapment.

One of the most interesting testimonies at a trial in Sweden will of course be that of Thomas Lilius. His testimony may well contradict some of the crucial statements made by Thai police officers during Kim’s trial, and since Lilius was not present at the trial in Bangkok the Thai judicial system may have a number of new issues to follow up and examine more closely.

For example: Did some of the police commit perjury when they claimed never to have seen or met Lilius? And is the conclusion in the sentence that Kim was alone in manufacturing the alleged ice correct? The list could be made longer.

Such revelations could be very embarrassing for Thailand as well as for the Swedish police and of course for the US DEA (but would they really care?). It may lead to inquiries and actions which could result in disciplinary actions or even criminal charges. But is this Kim’s and his family’s fault? Of course not. The DEA and whoever chooses to work with them must take their responsibility - sooner or later. 

Kim has not been executed but his life and that of his wife and daughter have been ruined following this case of entrapment. Moreover, due to the unwillingness of the prison and /or the Department of Correction in Thailand he has not been able to meet his daughter for more than a year. The purpose of a prison sentence is to act as punishment for criminals and to protect society from villains. But why should an innocent girl of 2 years age be prevented from seeing her father? Whoever can gain anything by such cruelty?

It is clearly stated in Kim’s sentence dated the 22nd of September 2011 that: "…..on the 14th of July, 2010, the defendant went to his laboratory, combined chemicals and took 30 video clips of 1 min long each..."

It seems strange that the conclusion that Kim did this alone is drawn since

a) Witnesses testified that they have seen another foreigner in the lab when Kim was not there. Mr. Siri Hasap states: “…..I saw a foreigner came out of the room and pour some water from a bucket in front of the room which it produced a smoke. Then, the foreigner went back inside the room and after a while, he came back outside again and call for the Defendant.”

b) The voice of Thomas Lilius is heard on one of the video-clips made during the manufacturing process.

c) Despite clear indications in the Swedish police report 0150-K1764-11 which quite clearly state that Lilius was in Thailand at this time, that he was helping Kim with chemical processes and it was on a mission planned and paid for by the DEA, does the judge ever take this into consideration. Why?

It is quite clear that Swedish police know that the DEA use methods that are against the law in Sweden (and most other civilized countries). Is it not time for Swedish politicians to ask themselves if this kind of cooperation should continue?

The close cooperation between Swedish police and the DEA opens up some interesting ethical dilemmas. What if a Swedish hit-man were to be contracted by the DEA to assassinate a suspected terrorist in e.g a country in the Middle East and he like Lilius received payment via the Swedish police? He would probably get DEA-help to leave the country in question by use of a faked passport. He would not be put on trial in the USA of course, but would he ever be tried for murder in Sweden? And what responsibility would the Swedish police have for handing over the money for the killing?

Swedish citizens visiting foreign countries should not be purposefully exposed to moral and/or criminal hazards by the US DEA. It is an illusion to believe that one can meet high civilized standards when orchestrated methods such as those used by the DEA are being implemented.

When you read the Mission Statement of the DEA it is very hard to disagree with any of the agency’s principles. But even when you have the best intentions sometimes things can go very wrong. So despite the idea behind the DEA and the work they should carry out is good, sometimes mistakes will be made. And cases described by e.g. Mike Levine as well as that of Kim Eriksson are examples of cases that could have been managed much better – or should maybe never have been set up at all.

In Kim’s case they are simultaneously abusing the sovereignty of Thailand and taking advantage of a judicial system the US ambassador recently criticized heavily (read more here). What is that if not hypocracy?

To end this we will quote Francis Bacon:

If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us.

Are we not going in the wrong direction as things seem to be developing?

 to Kim’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/139006806228521/

Since we have not received any confirmation of these events from the Red Cross or similar organisations we have decided to withdraw the story. We find it very important that what is posted on J4K is true and can be confirmed from different sources.

On the closed Facebook page members can discuss various aspects of the event.

Via his lawyer, Kim would just like to remind you of two very well written and informative articles published last year. You will find them here http://www.justiceforkim.com/category/2011 . They are in Swedish as welll as in English translation.

Lilius, Swedish police and the DEA - Birds of a feather flock together*

As shown in the timeline Kim first came into contact with Mr Thomas Lilius in 2005. At that time Lilius was part owner of the chemistry-supplies company Labglas AB. Since then he seems to have sold his share of the business. But according to former partner Mr Viktor Möllare who now is chairman and CEO of Labglas. Lilius still uses the corporate server for his email, so it seems reasonable to assume that there still is some connection and quite possibly frequent communication between the two old friends.

When asked about Lilius’ whereabouts, Viktor Möllare claims to know nothing. Soon however, he may need to change this attitude radically when (as soon to be reported on the Justice-for-Kim-group on Facebook) the heat is turned up.

After Kim’s sentence was made public on September 22, 2011 a whole lot of discussion took place on a blog in Sweden called Cattas Bubbla

Reference was made to Labglas AB and the highly surprising fact that they were  openly advertising sales of building blocks for products such as methamphetamine (see Printscreen made on Sept 13, 2011 ). Note the variety of compounds containing phenylacetone. According to Wikipedia phenylacetone is used to “manufacture of methamphetamine and amphetamine as a starting material or intermediate, where it is commonly known as P2P”.

Some time after the promotion of P2P on Labglas AB’s website became well known via Catta’s blog the website was changed and P2P is no longer a featured item. See http://labglas.se/ . But for the chemist wanting to make some “psycho-active stimulants” there are still lots of goodies available from Labglas.

However, we want to make it clear that the entire J4K staff including Kim are all very much against use of drugs.

So here we have a company whose (former) owner – Thomas Lilius - has been in trouble with the police in the USA over involvement in the Triple X bust and years later is allowed to openly sell raw materials for manufacturing of narcotics. Yet the Swedish Police and the DEA decided to cooperate with him, and even pay him cash. He never even had to pay tax on it !!!

It really makes you wonder about the judgment of high ranking police officers such as Cecilia Fant, Staffan Jonsson and Anders Ullenius – at the Swedish National Bureau of Investigation. Not to mention the DEA of course. But as stated in the headline – Birds of a feather flock together.

*”Birds of a feather flock together” is an old proverb meaning that similar people, with similar moral codes tend to associate with each other http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080730191057AAs5UeZ

In the previous update  we reported on the opinions expressed by the US ambassador on the Thai legal system. In this update we relate to some of the strange things we have come across in Kim’s case. This is the first in a series of such revelations.

The evidence presented by the prosecutor at the trial in June 2011 focused very much on the testimony provided by forensic chemist Ms Kanyanun Kongpasaniroj at the Office of the Narcotics Control Board .

It was stated that a “recipe” for making methamphetamine had been found on the premises. However, such a recipe was never listed among the items taken from Kim’s house in connection with Kim’s arrest. So the first question that arises is: Where did it come from?

If one follows the various stages of this recipe you should by rights end up with 120-150 grams. According to the prosecutor the “recipe” was the one used to produce the Ice. But if this recipe was used, why did it only produce 53 grams instead of 120-150 g?

During the weeks to come we will publish information provided by a highly skilled chemist with many years of experience in chemical processing who has recently joined out team. You will find some of his findings quite staggering.

We will return to our chemist’s review and critique of the testimony, but a question that is becoming more and more relevant is: Was there ever any methamphetamine produced in Kim’s house? Or did Thomas Lilius bring the 53 grams into the house and drop then into the mixture he had spent all day cooking?

At the trial the defense asked to examine the results of the TLC tests as well as for the results of Gas Chromatography

In connection with finalizing Kim’s appeal we requested a sample of the 53 grams that are claimed to have been found in Kim’s laboratory, in order to have the material tested in an independent laboratory so as to verify the results or refute them. It should also be noted that the lab at the Office of the Narcotics Control Board is not granted the standard of ISO. This implies there might be problems with their quality control. In response to our request defense attorney Mr Chakrit Paradeemireklap explains:

- The forensic department does not have such results or even if they have one, they will not release it to us. We fought with the forensic officer in the court requesting her to present all the lab documents to the court. The day after, the lady from forensic department presented a letter from her superior to the court that they cannot present such documents due to the confidentiality and national security. With respect to the samples of the substances, it states clearly in the report submitted to the court that all the test substances were used (exhausted). Thus, there is no chance for us to get them either.

The obvious question is: How can a judge ever find Kim guilty if the most important evidence is withheld from examination by the defence - AND that it evidently no longer exists. This information is of course a central issue in Kim’s appeal. And an imortant issue is: Who decided to discard the evidence?

A rather interesting parallell situation exists between Kim’s case and that of two Swedish journalists in Ethiopia. First of all the ambassador in Addis Abbeba attended the entire trial to show that Sweden takes fair trials seriously. At Kim’s trial a junior representative attended only part of the trial. When the Ethiopian prosecutor refused to release certain evidence Sweden’s PM Mr Reinfeldt  prostested publicly. When the prosecutor in Thailand refused to release information the Swedish state was not even aware of this breach of human rights.

It reminds one of George Orwell’s Animal Farm where it is stated that "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".

We know from Kim’s own account of the arrest as well as from the testimony given by Swedish police officer Cecilia Fant that the DEA were involved in the set-up of Kim. The magazine MAXIM that published an article of the event even included a photo of one of the DEA-officers involved. It all makes you wonder how much power the DEA has in a country like Thailand. 

Some time ago Wikileaks published more than 3,000 classified US government cables, some involving Thailand. One of these – labelled “Law enforcement cooperation between Thailand and the United States runs deep” provides a very good picture of what the DEA does in Thailand, and what’s more what the US thinks about the Thai police force. It was written by the US ambassador at the time and sent to foreign secretary Ms Clinton.

The cable tells us that the US-DEA maintains several offices throughout Thailand, as well as in several neighboring countries, and according to the cable they enjoy ”remarkable freedom of action in-country and high levels of cooperation (including the right to carry weapons and freely conduct investigations, with the Thai police making the final arrests)”.

To a distant on-looker, it comes as a little bit of a surprise that the proud Thai nation allows foreign police to carry weapons and freely "conduct" investigations.

This is, of course, what happened in Kim’s case: The DEA got Swedish citizen Thomas Lilius involved in setting up the trap, the DEA reported all the events to the Thai police who later raided the house and arrested Kim. But the DEA were still the first to question him – NOT the Thai police, which pretty much details who was running the show. The DEA was represented by two agents, one of which is seen on a photo on page 2 of the MAXIM article.

According to the testimony of Police Colonel Sivapong Patpongpanich he was “contacted by the DEA officer who worked in the United States Embassy in Thailand. They have been informed that a Swedish citizen was going to secretly produce ICE in Thailand. Such person had a house in Klang, Rayong province. The contact with DEA was made orally and not in writing because it was confidential.”

So this was all the information they had to go on? No phone taps, no written evidence, no nothing?

In the leaked cables the US ambassador is very critical of the Thai criminal justice system which “as a whole stands in need of comprehensive development, streamlining, and reform”, describing it as “still very weak by Western standards and the police are at the heart of the problem” and says the Thai police force has “quite low” professional skills. Another area of critique is that the Thai police need a lot of help with “training in human rights and community policing”, areas in which the Thai police evidently are not very well developed.

The cable is very critical of the Thai courts saying that they “lack most of the accoutrements (=normal parts) of a modern justice system and the police, prosecutors, and judiciary do not interact effectively.  Instead they represent jealous domains, and the whole system relies upon confessions rather than formal evidence.”

Looking back at Kim’s sentence where very little notice was taken of the evidence presented in Kim’s favour, one is inclined to agree with the justice system being poor. However, Kim’s appeal has addressed all the mistakes made in the sentence and hopefully the judge in the Appeal’s Court will be less one-eyed.

Thailand is a wonderful country with very friendly, resourceful and many times beautiful people. One would think they might deserve a just judicial system, a professional police force and no interference from foreign countries' police agencies.

På DN Debatt skriver Peter Althin, Mårten Schultz och Nils-Eric Schultz mycket insiktsfullt om infiltratörer.

En annan aspekt är att polisen med hjälp av informatörer/infiltratörer kan provocera fram brott. I Kim Erikssons fall reste en svensk kemist till Thailand på uppdrag av USAs DEA, och med svensk polis goda minne. I uppdraget ingick att instruera Kim Eriksson hur man tillverkar amfetamin och samtidigt hålla polisen underrättad om när det var dags att ”slå till”. Kemisten tillverkade amfetaminet, försvann 20 minuter innan tillslaget (enligt uppgift för att hämta sin flickvän) och lämnade sedan landet. Kvar blev Kim Eriksson med 53 gram amfetamin samt ett livstidsstraff i Thailand. Den som faktiskt utförde brottet gick således fri.

Polisen har därmed kunnat råda över OM ett brott ska begås eller ej, NÄR det skulle begås samt hur allvarligt brottet skulle vara dvs hur långt straffet skulle bli. Det är väl knappast polisens roll i en rättstat?

I anslutning till rättegången vägrades Kim Eriksson att få ta del av loggar mm som finns i polisens arkiv och som med stor sannolikhet kunde ha visat att det handlade om en brottsprovokation. ”Sekretess” uppgavs som skäl att förvägra Kim att ta del av uppgifterna. Information som kunnat av mycket stor nytta för Kim Erikssons försvar döljs alltså av sekretess. Det är ju nästan som taget ur en roman av Kafka, och om det skulle ske oftare, bli ett mycket allvarligt hot mot rättssäkerheten. I Kim Erikssons fall har rättssäkerheten redan raserats.

Man kan läsa om fallet Kim Eriksson på http://www.justiceforkim.com/ samt i senaste numret av Rättsmagasinet Skurk.

Since posting the previous update the J4K staff have received a few questions about communication with Kim. It seems as if many people believe that Kim has access to internet and endless phone conversations.

Well, he does NOT.

Kim's ways of communicating with the outside world (and with the J4K staff) are: by snail mail, through visits by lawyers and the Swedish Embassy's staff, a Swedish priest and by the many friends and relatives who have visited him regularly.

Before the trial there were many visitors and therefore it was quite easy for Kim to pass on information that was then forwarded to the J4K staff who write the updates etc. Since the sentence was read there have not been so many visits to Kim, nor many visits from the legal team and thus not much information coming out.

The updates that are written are not Kim's exact words, they are based on thoughts and opinions expressed by Kim during meetings and/or letters sent to us. Updates are then relayed back to Kim so that any misunderstandings or misconceptions can be corrected. You may remember we made one such correction concerning the Swedish Embassy's activities. That was made after Kim had been informed of the original post and asked for it to be corrected.

During November there will be an increase in activity and we can look forward to more information. We promise to keep you posted.

Efter att ha suttit häktad i 434 dagar, var det till slut dags för Kim att få höra domstolens utslag. Och på förmiddagen den här 22: a dagen i september läste domaren upp domen. Kim fick den översatt direkt av den tolk som har hjälpt Kim under hela rättegången.

Efter att ha vägt alla tillgängliga bevis, fann domstolen Kim skyldig till anklagelserna och dömde honom till livstids fängelse.

Kims reaktion på domen:

-Jag är otroligt besviken, säger Kim. Jag kände, och känner fortfarande, att vi presenterat avgörande bevis som stöder min inställning till åtalet dvs inte skyldig. Dessutom har vi lämnat in en mycket stark slutplädering där vi visar bortom allt rimligt tvivel att detta är ett klart fall av brottsprovokation, och att jag borde ha befunnits oskyldig till anklagelserna.

-Kanske hade domstolen svårt att ställa sig på min sida, fortsatte Kim. Om jag hade befunnits oskyldig, då måste naturligtvis någon annan vara den skyldige. Kanske tänkte domstolen att en dom som säger att jag är oskyldig skulle skicka signaler som säger att polisen ska ses som den skyldiga parten. Trots allt, är det helt klart att olika polismyndigheter har varit inblandade. Men domstolen beslutade ändå att tro på vad åklagaren hade beskrivit som sanning.

Vad händer nu?

-Jag behöver diskutera domen med mina advokater och naturligtvis med min fru och familj. Men min känsla just nu är att vi kommer att överklaga. Under tiden kommer vi att försöka samla in ytterligare bevis som stöder min sak. Även om domen är en stor besvikelse är jag fortfarande optimistisk när det gäller att sanningen kommer att segra. När du är nerslagen och ligger platt på rygg finns det inget annat håll att se än upp. Och jag har för avsikt att bevisa min oskuld.

-Jag vill passa på att tacka min familj och vänner för dom stött mig under den här mycket svåra perioden i mitt liv, säger Kim. Och jag skulle också vilja tacka min advokat Chakrit Parameedireklap och hans team som ändå har gjort ett bra jobb.

-Nu skulle jag vilja få lite tid för mig själv att fundera på domen, ladda batterierna och starta upp processen att få ännu mer och ännu starkare bevis, som till slut kommer att bevisa min oskuld.

In a post written on June 27, 2011 we were complaining about the Swedish Embassy doing very little to help Kim. It seems we were not quite correct in our description, in fact one might say we were wrong.

After having looked closer into who has done what and when, it becomes clear that many of the staff at the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok are doing quite a lot to help Kim. They regularly hand over books and magazines that friends have sent, they visit him regularly and from what we understand they plan to attend the reading of Kim's sentence on Sept 22nd. Moreover, they have been very helpful in arranging visits to Klong Prem for Kim's friends and relatives.

So whatever difficulties Kim has found when it comes to obtaining information etc from the State of Sweden it is NOT the Embassy who are making his life difficult. 

In a very interesting and very revealing lecture, former DEA-agent Mike Levine explains the principles behind some of the more unfortunate and unjust “drug busts”. http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cjs13.htm

Explaining the priorities set up by the DEA, Mike Levine says: 
-A “Class One” was DEA's top rating for drug dealers. You once had to be the head of a criminal organization and dealing with tens of millions of dollars in drugs each month to qualify as a Class One. Pablo Escobar and Roberto Suarez were Class Ones. But there is enormous pressure on DEA agents to make as many Class One cases as they can for one simple reason: Federal agencies justify their budgets with statistical reports to Congress - and Congress loves to see Class Ones.

2 more newslinks about the trail in Bangkok "Rättegången i Thailand avslutades på fredagen" from Sundsvall tidning (swe) and "Drug Case Against Kim Roger Eriksson Sirawan Postponed" from ScanAsia (eng)

We can here link 2 more newslinks "Sundsvallsbo i knarkrättegång i Thailand" from Sundsvall tidning (swe) and "Trial Begins Against Kim Roger Eriksson Sirawan" from ScanAsia (eng)