OAG faces backlash over slow action over Tak Bai massacre suspects

The Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) denies it is dragging its feet over the 2004 Tak Bai massacre, even though the prosecution of eight suspects was only ordered on September 12 – barely a month before the case expires.

OAG spokesman Prayut Phetkhun told the press on Wednesday that the arrests had only just been ordered because the police had very recently completed the more thorough investigation required by the OAG.

The eight suspects are allegedly being held responsible for the deaths of 78 protesters in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district. The case’s 20-year statute of limitations will expire on October 25 this year.

The OAG spokesman admitted that it is possible that some suspects in the case may not be arrested in time before the case expires.

The eight suspects do not include Pheu Thai MP General Phisal Wattanawongkhiri, former 4th Army Area commander, who is among the seven defendants charged by the families of 48 people who were killed and injured in the crackdown on a protest outside the Tak Bai Police Station on October 25, 2004.

Prayut said the suspects arrested by the OAG were not the same as those facing charges in the families’ case, and it would be up to the Narathiwat Court to decide whether to merge the two cases.

In the OAG case, the first defendant is General Chalermchai Wiroonphet, former commander of the 5th Infantry Division. He is the only person who also faces charges in the case filed by the victims’ families.

Prayut said the seven other suspects in the OAG case were drivers of the trucks used to drive the protesters to Inkhayuth Borihan Camp. The protesters were piled one on top of another and 78 died of suffocation. The suspects are:

• Sub-Lieutenant Nattawut Luamsai
• Wissanu Lertsongkhram
• Lieutenant Wisnukorn Chaisarn
• Piti Yarnkaeew
• Sgt-Major 3rd Class Ratchadej Srisuwan
• Lt-Colonel Prasert Matmin
• Sub-Lieutenant Ritthirong Promrit

Prayut said Phisal, who was the southern army chief at the time and held the rank of lieutenant general, had ordered the crackdown on the protesters. Some 300 protesters had gathered to protest against the arrest of six Muslim village defence volunteers on charges of stealing state weapons for insurgents on on October 19, 2004.

Meanwhile, he said, Chalermchai had ordered that just 25 trucks be put on standby for the crackdown.

After the protesters were arrested, 40 or 50 protesters were stuffed in each of the 25 trucks, and once they arrived at the camp at 7pm, some 78 of the protesters had suffocated to death.

In 2005, the Songkhla Court ruled that the 78 protesters had died of suffocation during detention by state officials. After the court’s ruling, the OAG ordered a further investigation for charging suspects in the extrajudicial killings.

Prayut said police had completed the probe on July 31 this year, and the attorney general resolved to charge Chalermchai and seven drivers of the trucks with collaborating to murder. The charge was based on using improper methods to transport arrested protesters, resulting in their deaths from suffocation.

He added that, so far, none of the eight suspects have been arrested and charged because police investigators have always disagreed with public prosecutors and have wanted to drop the charges.

Prayut said if the case expires before the suspects are arraigned on murder charges in court, society should see this case as a lesson to prevent similar mishaps in the future.

However, Prayut admitted that there were no records of a case taking up to 19 years to investigate before the attorney-general decided to have the suspects charged in court.

“Since I became a public prosecutor, I have never heard of a case taking this long. I can’t say whether it is strange or not,” he added.
Meanwhile, apart from Chalermchai and Phisal, the five other defendants in the case filed by the families are:

• Pol General Wongkot Maneerin, former director of the Forward Command of the Royal Thai Police
• Pol Lt-General Manote Kraiwong, former commander of Provincial Police Bureau 9
• Pol Maj-General Saksommai
• Phutthakul, former chief of Tak Bai Police Station
• Siwa Saengmanee, former SBPAC chief
• Wichom Thongsom, former Narathiwat governor

Prayut added that Phisal also enjoys legal immunity granted by Article 125 of the Constitution during the parliamentary session, so it might be impossible to charge him in court before the case expires.