Thailand to charge 8 suspects in a Tak Bai case as deadline nears

Thailand’s attorney general has decided to charge six soldiers and two civilians for their roles in the 2004 Tak Bai Massacre weeks before the 20-year statute of limitations on the case ends next month.

Prayuth Petchkhun, a spokesman for the attorney general, told reporters on Wednesday that the eight will be charged with intentionally killing 78 people who suffocated to death in the backs of  trucks after being detained from outside the Tak Bai police station in the southern Narathiwat province on Oct. 25, 2004. 

“Although the eight suspects did not intend for the victims to die, the provision of only 25 trucks to transport over 1,000 protesters was an overcrowded and inappropriate method,” Prayuth said at a press conference.

“The suspects should have foreseen that such actions could lead to suffocation and death.” 

EIGHT DEFENDANTS

•         Gen Chaloemchai Wirulpetch
•         Sub Lt. Nathawut Lueamsai
•         Wisanu Lertsongkhram
•         Lt. j.g. Wisanukorn Chaisarn
•         Piti Yankaeo
•         Chief Petty Officer 3rd Class Pitak Srisuwan
•         Lt. Col. Prasert Matmil
•         Lt. Rithirong Promrit

On that same day in October 2004, security forces allegedly killed seven people outside the Tak Bai district police station. All were protesting to demand the release of six village security volunteers who had been detained by security forces.

The indictment announced on Wednesday is separate from a lawsuit filed by 48 relatives of those who died or were injured in the incident. That case, which names seven defendants including former senior military and government officials, is before the Narathiwat Provincial Court.  

Among the eight who will be charged is Gen. Chalermchai Wirunphet, who at the time commanded the Army’s 5th Infantry Division. He had ordered that the protesters be transported by trucks.

Others who will be indicted include the convoy controller and truck drivers involved in the transportation. 

Worachat Awipan, a scholar at Payap University’s Institute of Religion, Culture and Peace Lab, questioned the decision to charge the eight suspects.

“It’s notable that most defendants in this case are merely operational-level soldiers, with no high-ranking commanders being charged as in the civil case filed by the villagers,” Worachat told BenarNews.  

“This reflects structural problems in the justice process, suggesting possible discrimination or protection of those in power, which contradicts the rule of law principle that everyone should be equal under the law,” he said. 

In the earlier case related to the Tak Bai massacre, the seven defendants failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing on Sept. 12. The seven include former Army Region 4 commander Gen. Pisarn Wattanawongkiri, now a lawmaker from the governing Pheu Thai Party,

The court issued arrest warrants for six of the defendants and a summons for Pisarn, who has parliamentary immunity.

The cases have again drawn attention to the long-standing conflict in Thailand’s Deep South, a Muslim-majority and mainly Malay-speaking region near the Malaysia border.

The Deep South encompasses the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and four districts of Songkhla province. Over 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 in insurgency-related violence, according to the Deep South Watch, a local think-tank.

Meanwhile, civil society members have criticized the timing of the decision to charge the eight because the attorney general's office waited until just a few weeks before the statute of limitations ends on Oct. 25.

Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of the Cross-Cultural Foundation, said she was concerned about the motivations behind the timing.

“The attorney general’s decision to indict so close to the statute of limitations expiring seems like a response to social pressure,” she told BenarNews.
“If they hadn’t filed charges in time, society would have questioned the prosecutor’s role in a case involving nearly 100 deaths. This late indictment seems to shift the burden to the police, whose main duty now is to bring the suspects into the legal process,” Pornpen said. 

Responding to concerns, Prayuth told journalists that the attorney general had received the case from investigators on April 25 – six months before the 20th anniversary of the killings.

“In all cases, if the investigating officer deems it unnecessary to press charges, they have the discretion not to file charges and to release the individual immediately,” he told reporters.

“However, if the public prosecutor disagrees and orders prosecution, it becomes the duty to follow through with the legal process, to formally press charges, and to ensure the individual is brought to court within the statute of limitations, which in this case is by Oct. 25,” Prayuth said.

He added that it was “not within the prosecutor’s authority to explain the delay.”

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The Tak Bai incident has long been a source of tension in Thailand’s Deep South.

In 2013, the government approved compensation totaling 641.45 million baht (U.S. $18.9 million) for the families of 85 deceased and 49 injured individuals. However, legal proceedings have been slow to progress. 

Ruj Chuenban in Bangkok contributed to this report.