Thread: Abhisit Vejjajiva : Former Thai PM to face murder charge

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/wo...s&emc=rss&_r=0

Thai Ex-Premier Charged With Murder Over Crackdown in 2010


Agnes Dherbeys for The New York Times
“Red shirt” protesters prayed for other protesters killed the previous day in Bangkok during a crackdown by the government in April 2010.

By THOMAS FULLER

Published: December 6, 2012

HONG KONG — The former prime minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, was charged with murder on Thursday for his role in a military crackdown on antigovernment protesters in Bangkok two and a half years ago.



Tharit Pengdit, the director of Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation, said the former prime minister and his deputy had issued “orders that caused the deaths of many people.”

Mr. Abhisit was charged with the killing of Phan Khamkong, a taxi driver whose case is one of the first from the protests to advance through the courts. More than 90 people were killed in the violence, most of them civilians.

“Even though there was already loss of life, the operations were not stopped and other methods were not implemented,” Mr. Tharit said at a news briefing in Bangkok.

Mr. Tharit said that “at this stage” no charges would be brought against the soldiers who fired at protesters, because they acted under orders from their commanders and are shielded under Thai law.

The capital’s streets have remained largely calm since the violence, which took place in April and May 2010, but political tensions are still simmering among the country’s main power brokers. Mr. Abhisit, whose Democrat Party lost in a general election last year, has found himself on the defensive as political battles have moved from the streets into the courts.

Crucially for Mr. Abhisit, the levers of power in Thailand are now in the hands of the party allied with the “red shirt” protesters who were swept from Bangkok during the 2010 crackdown.

Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, a spokesman for the Democrat Party, described the murder charge as a politically motivated “attempt to distort the judicial system.”

He accused civil servants of “shamelessly” seeking to “advance their careers” by aligning themselves with ruling politicians. If found guilty, the men could face the death penalty or a sentence of up to life in prison.

The government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has proposed the idea of a broad amnesty in connection with the protests, although details remain vague. Opposition politicians say they believe the government is hoping to pave the way for Ms. Yingluck’s brother, the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, to return to the country. Mr. Thaksin, who was overthrown in a military coup in 2006, was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for abuse of power in 2008 and has remained outside Thailand.

Mr. Thaksin has been a central figure in the political turmoil roiling the country. His supporters, a populist movement of farmers and middle-class Thais based in the north and northeast, are pitted against a powerful elite and urban Thais, represented in part by Mr. Abhisit.

Many of the “red shirt” protesters who clashed with the military in 2010 were supporters of Mr. Thaksin. A report into the violence released in September by an independent commission blamed both sides for deaths during the clashes. A group that was allied with the protesters and hid among them, known as the “black shirts,” was armed with heavy weapons.

In recent months anti-Thaksin groups have sought to revive street politics and called for another military coup to oust the current government. But an antigovernment demonstration led by a former military officer last month fizzled.

Poypiti Amatatham contributed reporting from Bangkok.



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Former PM Abhisit, Deputy PM Suthep labelled murder conspirators | MCOT.net



Former PM Abhisit, Deputy PM Suthep labelled murder conspirators

By Digital Media | 6 ธ.ค. 2555 17:40

BANGKOK, Dec 6 – The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) today charged Thailand’s former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva and his deputy Suthep Thuagsuban with intentionally conspiring against the 2010 civic protest in Bangkok which resulted in the death of 91 people.

DSI Director General Tarit Pengdith said Mr Abhisit, as prime minister the highest official overseeing the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), and Mr Suthep, as CRES director, collaborated in mass murder—offences stated in Sections 59, 83, 84 and 288 of the Criminal Code.

The allegations against the two Democrat Party political heavyweights were in accord with an earlier court announcement that a taxi driver identified as Phan Kamkong was shot dead by soldiers under the CRES command structure.

The court forwarded its ruling on the case via the Metropolitan Police Command to the DSI which is obliged to conduct further investigation based on the facts delivered by the court, Mr Tarit said.

The resolution to file charges against Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep was based on evidence that CRES ordered armed soldiers to fire on anti-government demonstrators, Mr Tarit said, adding that the pair issued several suppression orders and would not stop after some people were killed.

Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep are invited to acknowledge the allegations on Wednesday, he said, adding that the DSI will not seek a court order to detain them as authorised by the Special Investigation Act since they are former high-level political appointees.

Mr Tarit was also a CRES member during the political upheaval in May 2010.

Responding to a question about his CRES membership, he said he was a member of the general committee, not involved with operations, and never attended an operations meeting at that time.

He said he had never agreed with CRES using weapons in cracking down on demonstrators during the protest. (MCOT online news)


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Abhisit, Suthep face murder charges | Bangkok Post: news

Abhisit, Suthep face murder charges

• Published: 6/12/2012 at 04:36 PM
• Online news: Local News

Former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his former deputy Suthep Thaugsuban will be charged with premeditated murder over the death of a taxi driver during the 2010 Bangkok violence.


Tarit Pengdit (Photo by Thiti Wannamontha)

Phan Khamkong was shot dead during the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protests and violence in April and May of 2010.

Tarit Pengdit, director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), said on Thursday that the decision to charge Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep was made jointly by a tripartite team of investigators from the DSI, police and prosecution at a meeting earlier in the day.

Mr Tarit said, after the meeting, said he, as chief investigator, signed a letter to asking Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep to report to the DSI on Wednesday, Dec 12, at 2pm to acknowledge the charges.

The letter said the two would be formally notified and questioned and would be released without conditions afterwards.

This practice was in line with the Criminal Procedures Code and the Special Cases Investigation Act, because the two men were former holders of high-level political positions.

Mr Tarit said they were required to report to the DSI at this time because after Dec 20 they would be protected by parliamentary immunity.

He believed they would not delay reporting to the DSI beyond Dec 21, when parliament is due to reconvene in ordinary session.


Abhisit Vejjajiva, left, and Suthep Thaugsuban (Photo by Apichit Jinakul)

Mr Tarit said the charges against Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep would be the first legal charges over the more than 90 deaths that occurred during the 2010 mass rallies.

The Criminal Court recently ruled that Phan, the taxi driver, was hit and killed by bullets sfired by soldiers performing their duty on the orders of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES). Mr Suthep was the ultimate commander of the CRES, with then-prime minister Abhisit his superior.

Information from witnesses and the examination of evidence was solid enough for the investigators to decide to lay charges against the two men.

The use of weapons by soldiers followed written orders from the CRES, of which Mr Suthep was director and acting under the orders of Mr Abhisit, who stayed at the CRES headquarters all the time during the military crackdown on the protesters.

Mr Tarit said this was an important case because the death was caused by state authorities, necessitating investigation under Article 150 of the Criminal Procedures Code.

The court clearly identified the dead man and the circumstances that led to his death.

However, the court did not specify who among the soldiers fired the fatal shots. Moreover, Article 70 of the Criminal Code states that those who act on the order of their commanders are protected and immune from punishment.

Therefore, no charges would be brought against the soldiers, the DSI chief said.