Court set to begin 2010 riot inquests

Court set to begin 2010 riot inquests


According to Metropolitan Police Bureau documents, the Bangkok South Criminal Court will begin an inquest into the death of 43-year-old Reuters cameraman Hiro Muramoto, who was killed while covering clashes between military forces and red shirt supporters near Democracy Monument on April 10, 2010.

Two other inquests involving Thai nationals who died on the same day are also scheduled to start in the same court tomorrow.

Metropolitan police deputy commissioner Pol Maj Gen Anuchai Legbumrung said the bureau had wrapped up 18 of 22 cases involving state officers and forwarded them to prosecutors who had sent them to the courts.

The cases include the six deaths at Wat Prathum Wanaram on May 19, 2010. The proceedings will conclude on July 23 with an inquest into the shooting of Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi .


During the inquests the courts will hear evidence from witnesses, and the accused will be allowed to testify.

The Criminal Court will then make the final decision on whether to prosecute.

While families of the victims and human rights groups have complained of the slow march to justice over the past two years, police and Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officers defended the prolonged process.

After lengthy and contentious investigations, DSI officers came up with the preliminary conclusion that at least 22 deaths during the political unrest in April and May in 2010 may have been due to the actions of government forces.

Pol Maj Gen Anuchai said that under section 150/3 of the Criminal Code any deaths which may have resulted from government forces have to be subject to police autopsies.

The autopsy report must then be forwarded to prosecutors who decide whether the case should be presented to the Criminal Court for a preliminary hearing.

When asked whether those higher up the chain of command who ordered the military crackdown could face prosecution, Pol Maj Gen Anuchai said it was not for the force to decide.

"It is the Department of Special Investigation which is responsible for all the cases and to see that wrongdoers are charged," he said.

Pol Maj Gen Anuchai would not confirm that three other cases against state officers had been added to the 22, as reported earlier.

The DSI has investigated 266 cases since the crackdown and broken them down into four categories: terrorism (150), threats to the government (22), theft and commandeering of state weapons (21) and killing and injuring of civilians and state officials (73).

DSI chief Tarit Pengdith said that while 22 deaths may have involved state officers, 12 others may have involved red shirts as the weapons used in the killings were different to those issued to the military.

Mr Tarit conceded that in 55 deaths they did not have enough information to determine who was responsible. He said in total 180 cases out of the 266 remain unresolved.

He said it was getting harder to bring the wrongdoers to justice, as investigations were becoming more difficult as evidence has ''almost disappeared''.

''In times of chaos like this, it is very difficult to find evidence, witnesses and wrongdoers,'' he said.

DSI deputy chief Pol Col Pravesana Mulpramook, who was in charge of the investigations, is trying to reconstruct events by using satellite images from two years ago.

His is specifically looking at incidents around Democracy Monument on April 10, 2010, and in the Ratchaprasong area between May 14 and May 19, 2010.

Pol Col Pravesana says he not only wants to identify the culprits involved, but also the masterminds who gave the orders.

He said he had renewed his requests for operational plans from the Royal Thai Army and former government representatives, as well the red shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship.

Pol Col Pravesana said he has requested further satellite images which he believes more clearly captured the events.


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