Tak Bai massacre: Court issues arrest warrants as deadline nears
Warrants out for 13 suspects in two separate cases related to the death of 85 protesters in 2004, Pheu Thai MP summoned to appear in court
Arrest warrants have been issued against 13 suspects in the 20-year-old Tak Bai massacre case and a summons has been sent out for a Pheu Thai party-list MP.
Two separate cases are being pursued with two sets of suspects related to the deaths of Muslim protesters on October 25, 2004.
The first set of eight suspects will be charged in court as per an order issued by the attorney-general on September 12 for their alleged role in the death of 78 protesters. The victims died from suffocation while being transported from the protest site in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district to the Ingkhayut Borihan military camp in Pattani.
In the second set, the families of 48 victims have filed a lawsuit with the Narathiwat Court, accusing seven suspects of being responsible for the deaths of 85 protesters – seven killed during the crackdown on the protest and 78 while being transported to the military camp.
General Chalermchai Wiroonphet, former commander of the 5th Infantry Division, was named a suspect in both cases.
On Tuesday, Pol Lt-General Piyawat Chalermsri, commissioner of the Provincial Police Bureau 9, said as per updates from Pattani’s Nong Chik Police Station, the court has approved arrest warrants against all eight suspects in the OAG case.
Piyawat said Nong Chik police will try to arrest the eight suspects and take them to the public prosecutors to be charged in court before the case expires on October 25.
Apart from Chalermchai, the seven other suspects in the OAG case are the drivers of the seven military trucks on which the victims were placed on top of one another.
Piyawat said he has instructed his subordinates to try their best to locate and arrest the eight suspects before the case’s statute of limitations runs out.
He added that he has learned that the Narathiwat Court has also issued arrest warrants against six suspects in the relatives’ case and a summons for the seventh – General Phisal Wattanawongkhiri, former 4th Army Area commander – because he is a Pheu Thai MP.
Piyawat said none of the suspects in this case have been arrested yet. He said the Narathiwat Court has informed the House speaker to inform Phisal that he is required to appear in court on October 15 as scheduled despite his parliamentary immunity.
