DSI says it will need more time for probe into unrest
Piyanuch Thamnukasetchai
September 26, 2010

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) would have to extend the time for its investigation into the 89 deaths during the political unrest in April and May, DSI chief Tharit Pengdit said yesterday.

Tharit said he wanted to find out which groups were behind the deaths, but investigators had results from many different places, so they would need more time. So, the 45-day timeframe would be extended until they found the facts to explain to the public.

Once the DSI had obtained all ballistic test results and autopsy reports, investigators would speed up interviews of soldiers who were there and check the evidence and witnesses presented by Pheu Thai Party.

DSI deputy director general Colonel Narat Sawettana, who leads the investigation team on these cases, said after he met with Police Lt-General Wiroj Pao-in, who led the Pheu Thai probe into the 89 deaths and offered to give its information to the department, the DSI needed to take information from all sides to prevent criticism they only took data from pro-government people.

Narat said Pheu Thai with close ties to the red shirts may have useful information for the investigation, but he had not got any details for a list of witnesses from the opposition party yet. He said Pheu Thai was worried about the safety of witnesses and some feared they may be locked up if they came out to give details to the DSI.

Narat said the agency had thus said clearly that it would ensure justice to all sides and no bullying. It even offered to put any frightened witnesses onto a protection scheme.

Meanwhile, a mock public hearing on the killings during the April-May unrest was held yesterday at Thammasat University, where people who were injured and relatives of those killed gave information to academics, who acted as a hearing committee. The panel members included Kritaya Archavanitkul, Chaiyan Ratchakul, Somchai Preechasilpakul, Kasem Penpinant, Sawatree Suksri, and Benjarat Sae-chua.

The organisers sold tickets for Bt2,000 for VIP seats and any price for general tickets, in a bid to raise funds for lawyers for red shirts held in jail.

Santipong Inchan, who lost the sight in one eye after being hit by a rubber bullet during clashes with troops on April 10, said soldiers threw tear gas at the protesters at Phan Fa Bridge and deployed in lines to force them out. He said the first row of soldiers carried batons and shields but later rows had heavy weapons while protesters only had water bottles, rocks and packs of fermented fish. He urged the government to own up for what it did and accept the truth.

Thongchai Hemwiang, who sustained a gunshot to his hip during a "zone-tightening" operation near Lumpini Park, said that after hearing gunshots from the park he went with a group of journalists to observe and was shot in the hip along with a foreign journalist.

He said the bullet retrieved from his hip had a yellow lead head and that the injured were unarmed Bon Kai residents - not red-shirts.

Nation photographer Chaiwat Pumpuang, who was shot in the leg, said he wore a clear journalist symbol and was standing opposite to the troops when he was shot.

Chaiwat said he didn't see protesters around Rajprarop Road carrying weapons but he saw giant firecrackers lit against the demonstrators. He also saw a coffin in army truck but he didn't see if there was a corpse inside. Police never interviewed him throughout his two-month stay in hospital and he was only told that a high velocity bullet hit him. Chaiwat said he would file a civil lawsuit for compensation.

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