The relatives of the April 28th, 2004 incident will submit a complaint letter to the president of the Lawyer’s Council of Thailand on Saturday 22nd, 2008 at CS Pattani Hotel.
During the April 28th incident (Kruesae Incident) groups of young men simultaneously attacked 11 police and government posts throughout three provinces in the deep south of Thailand, namely Yala, Pattani and Songkhla. 108 people died during the suppressing of the attacks. Post-mortem inquests were conducted and the court identified information that in at least two out of the 11 posts attacked, most of the deceased were shot in the head, back or top part of the body. The government set up the Independent Committee to Investigate the Kruesae Incident and the finding of the investigation in a report of July 2004 was that the majority of the committee suggested that the non-violent means could have been applied to suppress of the incident.
The post-mortem inquest findings on the incident at Kruesae of November 28th, 2006 identified that the officers probably responsible for the use of excessive force were General Panlop Pinmanee, Colonel Manas Kongpaen and Major Thanaphat Nakchaiya. The court then transferred the case to the Pattani Office of the Attorney General to take the necessary action towards these officers. However, there has been no progress by the Pattani Office of Attorney General.
This incident brought huge international intention. The United Nations have asked the Thai authorities to take proper action in order to bring justice following this incident.
It is already two years since the post-mortem inquest order and over four years from the incident and the fact of whether the authorities used excessive force on the attackers or not is still clouded. The relatives of the deceased have therefore decided to make a complaint to the Lawyers’ Council of Thailand with the wish that this office will take legal action to find justice for the victims.
This activity of the relatives has strong support from reginal, national and local civic organizations, specifically Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Young Muslim Association of Thailand (YMAT), Southern Border Islamic Culture Foundation and Student Federation of Southern Border Provinces.
For further information contact:
Nittaya Wangpaiboon (66) 81 993 9061
Puttanee Kangkun (66) 8 332 1249
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
