http://asiancorrespondent.com/bangko...the-dsi-report
Reuters obtains DSI report on Bangkok protests UPDATE With comments from Thai PM
Dec. 10 2010 - 06:08 pm
UPDATE: Reuters has a comment from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva: Asked by Reuters to comment on the leaked documents, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva did not deny their authenticity, but said investigations were still not complete and efforts were being made to expedite the process.
"The next step will involve the judicial process so we can't react to any incomplete information", he said.
BP: Also, Andrew Marshall of Reuters confirms that the documents that Reuters were obtained were more comprehensive that those passed out by red shirt leader Jatuporn. His exact words are "Jatuporn handed out partial scraps of information taken from the reports. We saw the full documents".
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First, some background to the Reuters story. The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is the investigative agency who have been investigating crimes committed during the red shirt protests from March-May. Last month, DSI publicly and directly blamed the red shirts in eight instances whereas in other cases they were less definite saying "maybe" the security forces killed the red shirts.
At the time, The Nation had a story entitled "Reds, 'men in black' involved in eight cases of deaths, four unknown: DSI" There are eight cases of deaths during the anti-government protests from March to May involving the red shirts and the “men in black”, while the cause of deaths in four other cases is unknown but they could have resulted from a crackdown by security forces, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) said yesterday.
The deaths caused by red shirts include the killing of five soldiers at Khok Wua Intersection on April 10, an M79 attack on Silom Skytrain station, which killed one woman, two drive-by shootings in which two policemen were killed, an ambush on a military vehicle that saw one soldier killed, and an M79 attack near Lumpini Park in which one soldier died.
Included in the eight cases is an arson attack on CentralWorld, in which one person was killed, and a post-protest bomb attack in front of Big C Rajdamri that killed a man, said DSI Director-General Tharit Phengdit.
The deaths in four cases possibly involving security forces are: three deaths in Wat Pathum Wanaram, out of a total of six in the temple compound; the death of Private Narongrit Sala, who was shot dead on Vibhavadi Rangsit highway; the death of Japanese photographer Hiroyuki Muramoto; and the death of a Suan Dusit zoo guard.
The Bangkok Post article is entitled "DSI concludes probe into 18 deaths" and the key excerpts are: DSI chief Tharit Pengsit said out of the 18 deaths, 12 were found to have been caused by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) and its supporting armed elements.
It could not yet be determined if the six other deaths were caused by the UDD or government authorities.
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Altogether 12 people - soldiers, police and civilians - were killed in attacks by the UDD and supporting elements, Mr Tharit said.
The DSI could not definitely determine whether the deaths of six people were caused by the UDD, its supporting groups, or government authorities.
BP: Have checked the wording in Thai from this Matichon report and it matches. DSI is definitive in that the red shirts caused deaths in eight cases whereas DSI is vague about the other cases. BP should note that this is the DSI declaring the result. The basis for the conclusions drawn were not provided except to state that in regards to the deaths at the temple as per The Nation: The three deaths in the temple implicating security forces come from a trajectory study indicating that the bullets that killed them were fired from “declined angles” which is consistent with Army snipers and soldiers who were positioned on the elevated BTS track overlooking the temple.
BP: Alternatively, it could have been mysterious gunmen standing next to the army snipers which the army didn't notice.....
In fairness to DSI for the rest of the deaths, we don't know what evidence they have.* They may have convincing evidence, but there is no way to know or evaluate based on a simple conclusion as it is not as if the DSI Chief has the best reputation for neutrality.
Nevertheless, it is unsurprising with the DSI being some definite about what the the red shirts did, but then seemingly non-committal about what the military did that more details of the report would not leak. Reuters who have obtained an exclusive with details from the DSI report. Some excerpts are reproduced below although you should read the article for all the details: The Thai military played a larger role in the killing of civilians during political unrest in Bangkok this year than officials have acknowledged, leaked state documents seen by Reuters show.
A preliminary state probe into political violence in April and May concluded Thai special forces positioned on an elevated railway track fired into the grounds of a Buddhist temple where several thousand protesters had taken refuge on May 19.
Three of six people shot dead at the temple were likely killed by troops, the investigation found, directly contradicting statements by the Thai military, which has denied soldiers were responsible for the killings at the temple.
The report said there was not enough evidence to come to a conclusion about who was responsible for the other three deaths in the temple, but it said all six victims were hit by high-velocity bullets.
"There is a reasonable amount of facts, evidence and witness accounts to believe that (three) deaths resulted from security officials' actions on duty,"" the investigators said, recommending that police look into the deaths further.
The report quoted soldiers involved as saying they fired warning shots and cover fire, and had been shot at from the temple.
BP: Have a read of one of BP's earlier blog postings with photos of the soldiers on the tracks which the military were denying were theirs (they said they were standing 100 metres away). The Reuters report continues: One witness said he saw soldiers firing from the elevated train track into a medical tent inside the compound, where two nurses treating wounded civilians were killed.
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One witness hiding under a car at the temple said he was shot at four or five times by men in camouflage uniforms positioned on the elevated mass transit Skytrain track.
He was hit once and helped to safety by a monk. Autopsies showed bullets found in four of the six bodies inside the temple were the same type that soldiers on the elevated tracks said they were equipped with. An unknown number of people were wounded at the temple.
Soldiers quoted in the DSI report said they fired warning shots toward the temple and came under fire from black-clad gunmen from below and by another gunman in the temple. They said they were providing cover fire for troops on the ground, who had requested backup.
Tharit Pengdith, director general of the Department of Special Investigation, said the DSI had concluded its preliminary investigation and passed the results to the police but had not publicly disclosed the contents.
"The investigation report is a sensitive issue to talk about or to confirm its authenticity," he said. "It's an official secret. To confirm the authenticity of the report sent to police would affect the rights of the people whose names were in it."
BP: Sensitive because it implicates people? Why then do we have these DSI press conferences which implicate people. Aren't their rights also affected? There were plenty of people inside the temple, including foreign journalists, so we will have to see if the military can find a corroborating witness about the gunman in the temple...
There is also a second Reuters article specifically on the part of the report into the death of the Reuters cameraman.
Coincidentally, this is being leaked not long before Thaksin is scheduled to speak in person/by video conference in the US about the crackdown....
*Just wanted to say one additional thing. There are some who believe that the red shirts/men in black never killed anyone or never burnt down any buildings. There are others who believe that it was unidentified people (the mysterious third hand) or the red shirts themselves who killed the red shirts and others and the army was not responsible. BP would just ask that you broaden your horizons and open your eyes because there are enough videos and photos and eyewitness testimony around that contradicts these polar extremes...