Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has closely followed the postmortem inquest of 78 people who died in army custody after protesting outside Tak Bai police station in October 2004 (UP-056-2007). In recent hearings, the army general in charge on the day testified that he knew that the protesters were piled up on each other in army military trucks when they were transferred to the army camp, but apparently he did nothing to stop it. Also, during the hearing an unidentified man approached the lawyers for the victims’ families in court and advised them not to ask the general difficult questions in an apparent attempt to intimidate them; however, the presiding judge did nothing to restrain the man or have him removed from the courtroom.
TESTIMONY OF GENERAL PISARN:
On June 5, General Pisarn Wattanawongkiri testified at the inquest into the Tak Bai killings going in the Songkhla Provincial Court. Gen. Pisarn is the former Fourth Army Region commander. He was the highest military officer present at Tak Bai on 25 October 2004, and is one of the three army officers named by a government-appointed investigating committee as being responsible for the killing (AHRC-OL-008-2007). After arresting the protesters, his team decided to transfer them to Ingkayuthaboriharn Army Camp, in neighbouring Pattani Province. Yet, he left the scene before the operation was completed, leaving his deputy, Major General Chalermchai Wirunpeth, to take care of the situation.
Gen. Pisarn testified that he knew that there were not enough trucks for the protesters and that they had to piled up one on top of the other; he said he disagreed with the method, but he did not mention that he had done anything stop it. He testified that he had also seen the police kick protesters and order them to take off their shirts.
The public prosecutor’s motion stated that Gen. Pisarn was the one who ordered the crackdown; however, he did not give details about his order. He testified that at around 3pm the protesters started to lose control and that somebody had fired; however, he did not know whether the shots came from the protesters or the army. He was then pushed down on the floor by one of his subordinates. He said that when he and other officials regained control, he learned that some protesters had died. (Another seven persons were killed outside the police station in addition to the 78 who died on the trucks.) During cross-examination, he avoided the question of whether or not the army used firearms in the crackdown, but repeatedly emphasized that he had ordered his subordinates to restrain from doing so. The soldiers were carrying M16s, SK33s and handguns at that time.
LAWYERS INTIMIDATED IN COURT:
During a break in the proceedings, a man who was in the audience at the court approached one of the lawyers for the families of the deceased persons who had been asking the general difficult questions. He put his hand on the lawyer’s shoulder and told him that the general is a good person. He then moved to another lawyer for the families of the deceased, repeated the same thing and warned him not to ask harsh questions to the general.
After the break, the first lawyer continued the cross-examination. Suddenly, the unidentified man got up from the public observation area and moved to the lawyers’ table. Members of the audience were shocked by his sudden action; however, the judge did nothing to stop him. The lawyer had to stop the cross-examination and himself asked the man to go back to his seat.
OTHER TESTIMONIES:
On June 1, Pol. Lt. Col. Suthichai Limsiriwong, who examined the bodies of 24 of the victims in the Ingkayuthaboriharn Army Camp, also gave evidence in the Nonthaburi Provincial Court. Pol. Lt. Col. Suthichai is deputed to the Central Institute of Forensic Science, under the Ministry of Justice. He concluded that all the 24 victims died because of suffocation caused by the pressure on the bodies piling on each other. He also recorded bruises and lacerations on some of the bodies, caused by them being hit with blunt objects before death.
Other hearings continued in Songkhla on June 12 and again on June 15. On June 12 two members of paramilitary units testified to the court about what they had observed at the scene of the Tak Bai police station and in transporting the detainees to the army camp. One acknowledged that although the protest was aggressive, he did not see any weapons being held by the assembled persons and nor anything with which to destroy or burn the police station, as later claimed by the authorities.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
General Pisarn (promoted from lieutenant general at the time of the killings) earlier was part of the needless prosecution case against 58 of the protestors outside the Tak Bai police station, which was dropped for lack of evidence in October 2006. During that case he failed to appear in court on the appointed days, causing delays and inconveniencing the defendants, who were mostly ordinary villagers. See further: AS-143-2006; AS-083-2006; UP-178-2006.
FURTHER INQUEST DATES:
The rest of the hearings will be held in Songkhla Provincial Court. The AHRC urges all human rights defenders and concerned persons in Thailand to please attend. The details are as the follows:
Witnesses for the public prosecution (9am to 4.00pm daily)
June 19, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29
July 3, 4, 5
Witnesses for the families of the deceased (9am to 4.00pm daily)
August 1, 2, 8, 9, 28, 29, 30
September 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27
October 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25
Venue: Songkhla Provincial Court, Platha Road, Boyang Subdistrict, A. Muang, Songkhla
Case No.: Chor 2/2548
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
