PM urged to track down defendants

Forty-three non-governmental organisations have signed an open letter urging Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, along with the Interior Minister and national police chief, to make sure the seven defendants in the 2004 Tak Bai massacre case are brought to trial before the case’s statute of limitations expires this Friday.
The open letter was unveiled at a forum held on Monday to discuss the looming expiry of the case, which involves a number of lawmakers and state officials, including Pisal Wattanawongkiri, a former list MP of the ruling Pheu Thai Party.
“Twenty years have passed, and justice has not been served,” said Surichai Wun’Gaeo, director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Chulalongkorn University.
Angkhana Neelapaijit, a senator and former member of the National Human Rights Commission, said while it is the government’s responsibility to deliver justice in the case, it is the relatives of victims who have been fighting for justice in court, as the state’s legal processes are moving at a snail’s pace.
“If the Tak Bai case is considered a crime against humanity or genocide, then the case won’t expire,” she said, referring to the Friday deadline.
The incident took place after security forces dispersed a protest calling for the release of six detainees in front of a police station in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat on Oct 25, 2004.
Over 80 people are believed to have died in the events which followed the crackdown on protesters and their subsequent transport to a military facility in Pattani.
The PM can’t say that the case has nothing to do with her administration because it took place a long time ago and cite the remedies provided by the Yingluck Shinawatra administration as evidence of closure, Ms Angkhana said.
“Even Thaksin [Shinawatra] has said he has [almost] forgotten [about the massacre],” she said.
The government can’t hide behind Gen Pisal’s resignation from Pheu Thai, as the party will still have to answer why they appointed Gen Pisal as an MP in the first place despite his track record, said Sunai Phasuk, adviser to Human Rights Watch Thailand.
Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said he felt uncomfortable seeing the Tak Bai case being used to portray the government as the villain.
Law enforcement agencies are doing their best to track these suspects and bring them to trial, but it isn’t easy to accomplish the task, he said.