Eight more charged in 2004 Tak Bai massacre

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

Security personnel cuff demonstrators outside the Tak Bai police station in Narathiwat to prepare them for transport to an army camp on Oct 25, 2004. Seventy-eight of them died during the journey. (Bangkok Post file photo: Thawatchai Kemgumnerd)

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Thai authorities will prosecute eight more former security personnel over their roles in the Tak Bai crackdown two decades ago, when 78 protesters suffocated or were crushed to death when crammed into army trucks, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said on Wednesday.

All eight — six soldiers and two civilians — are charged with premeditated murder with foreseeable consequences.

The use of overcrowded trucks to detain protesters was inappropriate, though there was no intent to cause death, OAG spokesperson Prayut Phetcharakhun told a press conference.

“The suspects could have foreseen that their actions would have led to the suffocation and deaths of the 78 people under their responsibility,”  he said.
 

Mr Prayut said that Attorney-General Amnat Jedcharoenruk had decided to ask the police to bring the eight suspects to court for arraignment. If police are unable to do so by Oct 25, the statute of limitations will expire, he added.

The Criminal Court in the southern province of Narathiwat last month accepted a related complaint filed by the victims’ families against security personnel after a years-long legal struggle.

The seven defendants in the latter case were due to appear in court for witness questioning and evidence examination on Sept 12 but none showed up. Arrest warrants were issued for six of them.

A summons was issued for the seventh defendant, former Army Region 4 commander Gen Pisal Wattanawongkiri. He is currently protected under parliamentary immunity as a list-MP of the governing Pheu Thai Party.

The seven defendants implicated in the first case are accused of murder and unlawful detention for mishandling the demonstration and its aftermath.

The eight suspects in the second case are: Gen Chaloemchai Wirulpetch, Sub Lt Nathawut Lueamsai, Wisanu Lertsongkhram, Lt JG Wisanukorn Chaisarn, Piti Yankaeo, CPO3 Pitak Srisuwan, Lt Col Prasert Matmil and Lt Rithirong Promrit.

Continues at

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2867881/eight-more-charged-in-2004-tak-bai-massacre

 

 

[Travelingguy]

I wonder how many of the deaths were due to positional asphyxia given the way they have them on their abdomens and somewhat stacked on each other.

[Keithambrose]

5 hours ago, Travelingguy said:

I wonder how many of the deaths were due to positional asphyxia given the way they have them on their abdomens and somewhat stacked on each other.

The article refers to many people being suffocated. Quite appalling  incident.  I remember it at the time. No one much cared then.

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, Keithambrose said:

The article refers to many people being suffocated. Quite appalling  incident.  I remember it at the time. No one much cared then.

because Thailand is consider country on our side. If that would happen in Iran , Cuba  or Venezuela  then Security Counsel will be called and all saints  be condemning  it 7/24.

World is neither  just not fair place

[bkkmfj2648]

6 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

No one much cared then.

and perhaps now even.

Years back when I went to visit the famous railway bridge over the River Kwai up in Kanchanaburi - and then where this same railway line passes into Burma at the 3 Pagodas pass - I was quite perplexed with my 2 tour guides (one a Shan State guy from Myanmar and the other a Thai guy from Isaan) that they did not understand or know about the Death Railway and how Thailand was forced to yield way to its temporary ally, Japan, to build it within the Thailand territory.

These 2 guys did not even know that Japan had technically invaded Thailand for a short period of time and then Thailand decided to yield to this invasion and to become a Japanese ally to avoid a war with Japan.

When I made my 2 tour guides see and learn about the atrocities that were committed by the Japanese to build this death railway - they were quite shocked.

Perhaps this part of their history is overlooked ? 

[vinapu]

6 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

and perhaps now even.

Perhaps this part of their history is overlooked ? 

for sure it is. Every country has it's moments it rather forget , even less to teach about them at schools.

[Keithambrose]

5 hours ago, vinapu said:

for sure it is. Every country has it's moments it rather forget , even less to teach about them at schools.

Yea, indeed. I believe that the USA teaches that all men are equal, (unless black)!

[reader]

14 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

Yea, indeed. I believe that the USA teaches that all men are equal, (unless black)!

Harsh considering that we fought a civil war over that issue that took the lives of 750,000 of our own citizens.

And went on to elect a black man as president and currently considering a black woman for same office.

 

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, reader said:

....... we fought a civil war over that issue that took the lives of 750,000 of our own citizens.

And went on to elect a black man as president and currently considering a black woman for same office.

 

correct but 100 years after civil war was won by abolitionists USA still had bloody problem of desegregation of schools and buses. And to this day it's better to be white  while taking shortcut though deserted parking lot in front of mall or condo.

Hope is that consideration of Ms. Harris will prove successful , time for girl to take charge.

[reader]

42 minutes ago, vinapu said:

it's better to be white...

Yes, but you could say the same about an increasing number of European and Asian countries.

[Keithambrose]

4 hours ago, reader said:

Harsh considering that we fought a civil war over that issue that took the lives of 750,000 of our own citizens.

And went on to elect a black man as president and currently considering a black woman for same office.

 

And had segregation between blacks and whites well into the fifties. 

[reader]

25 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

And had segregation between blacks and whites well into the fifties. 

Thanks for the reminder, Keith. Btw, who came to your country's rescue in two world wars. That's right, those fuckin' Americans. I know, the army was segregated but didn't hear you complaining then, did I?

And how are you enjoying Vegas? Any segregation in the casinos?

[Keithambrose]

33 minutes ago, reader said:

Thanks for the reminder, Keith. Btw, who came to your country's rescue in two world wars. That's right, those fuckin' Americans. I know, the army was segregated but didn't hear you complaining then, did I?

And how are you enjoying Vegas? Any segregation in the casinos?

What's that got to do with the topic? Incidentally,  we, the UK, did refuse to allow segregation  of the US Army in the UK. The US wished to continue  segregation,  the UK refused. 

[reader]

12 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

What's that got to do with the topic?

Absolutely nothing, as did your post that ignited this exchange:

Yea, indeed. I believe that the USA teaches that all men are equal, (unless black)!

That's false and you know it. It was simply a cheap shot.

 

[Keithambrose]

3 minutes ago, reader said:

Absolutely nothing, as did your post that ignited this exchange:

Yea, indeed. I believe that the USA teaches that all men are equal, (unless black)!

That's false and you know it. It was simply a cheap shot.

 

Seems pretty accurate to me. 

[reader]

1 minute ago, Keithambrose said:

Seems pretty accurate to me. 

Show me where the US teaches that. Where is that taught?

 

[Keithambrose]

4 hours ago, vinapu said:

correct but 100 years after civil war was won by abolitionists USA still had bloody problem of desegregation of schools and buses. And to this day it's better to be white  while taking shortcut though deserted parking lot in front of mall or condo.

Hope is that consideration of Ms. Harris will prove successful , time for girl to take charge.

I have put reader on ignore, solves the problem  of his messages. 

[reader]

5 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

I have put reader on ignore, solves the problem  of his messages. 

In other words, you acknowledge that you made a false statement that started this exchange.

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, reader said:

Yes, but you could say the same about an increasing number of European and Asian countries.

unfortunately I need to agree

[Keithambrose]

6 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

I have put reader on ignore, solves the problem  of his messages. 

And not good to be black, and stopped by police for traffic offences, too many shot dead!

[reader]

4 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

And not good to be black, and stopped by police for traffic offences, too many shot dead!

Don't disagree but you never said "...and stopped by police for traffic offences, too many shot dead!" in the post you cite here.

If you had, perhaps we would have had a very different discussion.

[xpaulo]

On 9/18/2024 at 10:57 AM, Travelingguy said:

due to positional asphyxia

This continues to happen relatively frequently in Canada despite police departments continually saying they're well aware of it. And it's not all whacked out drug addicts swinging axes at people as some like to portray the deaths. It's often harmless overweight men with genetic or injury related personality disorders that are reported to police as on drugs. In one Toronto incident it was a overweight man in his fifties with the mind of a 10 year old as a result of a car crash when he was a child....he was brain damaged and deaf when police mistook him for a suspect. When he couldn't hear them yelling at him they ran after him, he was frightened and ran too. They caught him, took him down on the sidewalk where he died in in handcuffs. His mother had taken him out for a walk to get ice cream. She caught up to them just in time to watch him die. It was determined to be a tragic accident. How could police know he might suffocate when he was lying face down on the sidewalk with his hands cuffed behind his back? One of the police officers responsible who saw his lips turn blue and testified at the inquest seemed oddly indifferent saying he didn't even realize the man had died until watching the news the next day. The mother said she asked one of the police officers if she could have a ride to the hospital where her son's body was being taken. He told her to call a taxi. (they do make exceptions for attractive women coming out of bars, one Toronto officer was convicted in two separate sexual assaults on women in his police vehicle.) Police in Canada are generally oblivious to their impact on innocent Canadians' lives. I think it's related to their bosses and unions telling them they're on one side and the public is on the other and all their actions are justified. 

[Patanawet]

Sorry to come back to the original meaning of this thread -- I wonder why the Commander in Chief of the army at the time isn't prosecuted?
Oh yes!  Of course!