Lawyers and rights groups in Thailand are raising doubts any of the 15 former military, police and government officers charged with the murder of 85 protesters 20 years ago will appear in court before the statute of limitations expires next month.
The statute expires October 25, exactly two decades after the events of the so-called Tak Bai Massacre, named after a district of Narathiwat province in southern Thailand, a predominantly Muslim and ethnic Malay part of the country.
On that day in 2004, soldiers and police shot and killed seven people at a protest in Tak Bai calling for the release of suspected Islamic militants. The officers also packed dozens protesters into police trucks in which 78 of them died of suffocation, according to a state inquest five years later.
Though the inquest found fatal flaws in the security response to the protest, the authorities did not pursue charges and no one was put on trial.
This past August, though, on the back of a lawsuit filed by survivors and relatives of the dead, the Narathiwat provincial court charged seven retired officers with murder, attempted murder and unlawful detention in connection with the events. The Office of the Attorney General charged another eight with premeditated murder earlier this month.
Each defendant must hear the charges against them in court and in person by October 25 for the cases to proceed. Otherwise, the charges will be dropped.
An opening court date has yet to be set for the eight defendants charged by the attorney general, however, and the seven charged in Narathiwat all missed their first hearing on September 12. A second hearing is set for October 15, 10 days before the deadline.
Lawyers and rights groups tell VOA doubts are running high that any of the defendants will appear in time.
“Because until the 25th we have just [under] a month left, and in such a case … it’s very easy for the defendant to find an excuse to not show up or disappear,” said Sanhawan Srisod, a legal adviser in Thailand for the International Commission of Jurists.
“There are many ways in Thailand that they can just go … abroad wherever they feel comfortable and [where it is] cheap,” said Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, a human rights activist and lawyer representing one of the plaintiffs.
After the seven defendants in the Narathiwat court case failed to appear earlier this month, the court issued arrest warrants for six of them. It left out Pisal Wattanawongkiri, an ex-general who now has legal immunity as a serving lawmaker for the ruling Pheu Thai party.
As of last week, though, the court had no idea where any of the 15 defendants were, said Sorawit Limparangsri, spokesman for Thailand’s Court of Justice, which oversees the country’s provincial courts.
“After the arrest warrants are issued, then it is the role of the Royal Thai Police to do, and usually they do not report to the courts during the time that they are investigating,” he told VOA.
A spokesman for the Royal Thai Police did not answer VOA’s repeated calls or requests for comment.
Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, Thailand researcher for Amnesty International, says the police force’s past efforts to evade legal liability over its handling of the Tak Bai protest raise doubts about its commitment to follow through on the warrants.
Following the 2009 inquest, the police claimed the deaths were a case of force majeure, a legal term referring to events beyond their control. More recently, Chanatip said, they petitioned the attorney general not to press the charges his office filed against the eight defendants on September 18.
The attorney general ultimately rejected the petition, he added, “but what it showed us is that there’s very little willingness from the police to pursue this case.”
Relatives of those who died in 2004 have also petitioned the House of Representatives to let Pisal stand trial, but the House has taken no action to lift his immunity, which ends only after the current session ends October 30, after the statute of limitations on the charges expires.
Pheu Thai spokesman Danuporn Punnakanta told VOA the party did not know where Pisal was, in any case, and that he missed last week’s meetings. He said the party had no opinion on the charges, calling them a “personal case.”
As head of the army’s Region 4 command, Pisal was at the time of the 2004 protest in charge of all army activities in southern Thailand. The 2009 inquest concluded that he and two other senior officers failed to properly supervise the army’s response.
Compelling him and the other defendants to appear in court in time for the trials to continue is a chance for Thai authorities “to right the wrong and to ensure that there is accountability in this case,” said Chanatip.
“But at the same time, if the case stops or if the statute of limitations expires or if the perpetrators are not held accountable in the end, it could also embolden authorities or certain officers or state officials who commit human rights violations. It’s like a message for them that it’s okay … because they would not be held accountable,” he added.
Most of southern Thailand has been under enhanced security laws since an insurgency seeking independence for the region, once the remit of an independent Muslim sultanate, flared up in January 2004. Locals and rights groups have accused the authorities of repeatedly abusing those powers to harass, torture and kill suspected militants and sympathizers.
The level of violence has waned over the years, and the prospect of a trial over the Tak Bai protest is raising some hopes that accountability for the deaths could help move ongoing negotiations for a cease-fire forward.
On the other hand, if the charges are dismissed next month because none of the defendants appeared in court, there is also the fear that violence could spike, said Pornpen.
It would also be a missed opportunity for the victims to heal, and for those in Thailand’s restive south to learn more about what happened that day 20 years ago and why, said Sanhawan.
“That is kind of one of the scars left in the very center of the conflict, so … it’s very important for the Thai justice system to give truth, not only in the deep south but for everyone in Thailand, about what happened,” she said. “It’s important for the victims to end their suffering.”
