Military bullets killed civilians at Wat Pathum Wanaram on May 19, 2010

[Khun Don]

Military bullets killed civilians
Police say temple dead shot from elevated spot

Published: 19/06/2012 at 01:38 AMNewspaper section: News


Police have confirmed five of the six people killed at Wat Pathum Wanaram during the crackdown on red shirts on May 19, 2010 were shot with bullets normally used by military forces.

Testifying before the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court, Pol Col Suebsak Phansura, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's division 6, yesterday said the bullets were .223 calibre, which are used with M16 and Tavor rifles, which are for military use. All of the victims were shot from an elevated spot, he said.

The six people killed were Suwan Sriraksa, 30, a farmer; Atthachai Chumchan, 28, a law school graduate; Mongkol Khemthong, 36, a rescue worker; Rop Suksathit, 66, a hired driver; Kamonkade Akkahad, 25, a volunteer nurse; and Akkharadej Khankaew, 22, a hired hand.

Pol Col Suebsak, who heads the investigating team looking into the deaths, said the six victims and other red-shirt demonstrators had gathered at the temple to wait for transport home, while soldiers from two units were guarding the Siam Paragon department store and the Siam skytrain station.

While queueing up to use a temple toilet, Suwan was shot and died at the scene, while Atthachai was gunned down while crossing the road to the temple. Shortly afterwards, Rop and Mongkol, both standing in front of the temple entrance, were shot.

Kamonkade and Akkharadej were shot while trying to flee, said the officer. The bodies of the six civilians were later sent for autopsies.

Pol Col Suebsak said his investigators had summoned experts to help examine the direction of the bullets and they found that five of the killed, except Atthachai, had been shot by .223 calibre bullets that were fired from elevated positions to ground level.

His team had interrogated soldiers based at the skytrain station who claimed men in black had fired at them from the ground up toward the skytrain track. But ballistic tests showed no bullets had been fired from ground level, he said.

In a separate hearing yesterday, the wife of a taxi driver slain on May 15, 2010, told the court that former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban, and former army commander Gen Anupong Paojinda must be held responsible for his death. Charnarong Polsila, 45, was shot dead on Ratchaprarop Road.

Suriyan Polsila, 47, Charnarong's wife, told the court that her husband was merely a protester.

Mr Abhisit declared the Emergency Decree on April 7, 2010 and then appointed Mr Suthep director of the Centre for Restoration of Emergency Situations and Gen Anupong as deputy director. Mrs Suriyan said this made them responsible for her husband's death.

Mr Suthep took charge of the area to reclaim operations against the red-shirt protest and Gen Anupong directly issued the crackdown order to the military, which resulted in 91 deaths.

"They have never expressed any regret to my family or showed any responsibility since his death," Mrs Suriyan said.

Siriporn Ruangsinoon, 52, a legal representative for Mrs Suriyan and her two daughters, said the Abhisit government's operations were not in line with international standards which should start with a soft approach, including warnings, and gradually increase to hard measures.

Nick Nostitz, a German freelance journalist and a witness for the plaintiffs, told the court that on May 15, 2010, he met Charnarong and took his photo just a minute before he was shot.

Mr Nostitz said the injured Charnarong tried to crawl from the scene to hide at a petrol station with help from two other individuals. When the soldiers moved to the petrol station, Mr Nostitz said he told them to help Charnarong. He heard them call an ambulance.

Thilo Thielke, a Der Spiegel journalist, 44, told the court that he saw Charnarong get shot but he didn't see who shot him.

Minutes after he took the photos of the protesters, he managed to take photos of Charnarong being shot.

The next hearing is on Monday. There will be 32 more hearings, with 17 prosecution witnesses and 15 from the damaged parties.

BANGKOK POST

[Curt]

Apparently, the "mysterious dark figures" got hold of some military firearms!

[paul_au]

This is a terrible tradgedy. My condolenses to the family and friends of the victoms.

[kfchugo]

I am not a believer in "revenge" which is an empty and debilitating emotion - you cant bring back deceased loved ones. Having said that, I am a firm believer in justice and the punishment of evil doers. Much evil was done by senior people and even those who "pulled the trigger" cannot hide behind "I was only following orders". Murder was done here and the guilty need to be identified, put on trial and punished if convicted. In many cases, there is no "grey area" where it might have been lawful reaction to uprising or insurrection - people were gunned down when they were just standing around talking or crossing a street.
No one should seek revenge, but nor should murderers get away with their crimes - committed against their fellow countrymen. How can there be reconciliation without disclosure and justice?

[Khun Don]

Army says it didn't kill anyone at temple
Published: 21/06/2012 at 08:23 AMNewspaper section: News


The army yesterday insisted soldiers did not kill people at Wat Pathum Wanaram during the crackdown on red shirts on May 19, 2010 after police testifying in court had implicated the army.

Deputy army spokesman Winthai Suwari made the statement in defence of the army's security operations after the court heard testimony on Monday from witnesses and investigators probing the temple deaths.

During the hearing, police confirmed that five of the six people killed at Wat Pathum Wanaram during the crackdown were shot with bullets normally used by military forces.

Testifying before the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court, Pol Col Suebsak Phansura, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's Division 6, said the bullets were .223 calibre, which are used with M16 and Tavor rifles, common in military use.

The victims were shot from an elevated position, he added. The six people killed that day were Suwan Sriraksa, 30, a farmer; Atthachai Chumchan, 28, a law school graduate; Mongkol Khemthong, 36, a rescue worker; Rop Suksathit, 66, a hired driver; Kamonkade Akkahad, 25, a volunteer nurse; and Akkharadej Khankaew, 22, a hired hand.

Pol Col Suebsak's team had interrogated soldiers based at the skytrain station who said men in black had fired at them from the ground up toward the skytrain track.

But ballistics tests showed no bullets had been fired from ground level at the victims in the temple, he said.

Col Winthai said yesterday the bullets and firearms used to kill the people in the temple had been stolen during the riots.

On April 10, 2010 12 Tavor rifles, 700 .223 calibre bullets, 35 shotguns and 1,152 rubber bullets were stolen from soldiers at Phra Pinklao Bridge.

Later that same day, 13 Tavor rifles were stolen from soldiers at Democracy Monument.

On April 15, 2010, two M16 rifles and 100 M16 bullets were stolen from soldiers at Sam Liam Din Daeng.

The army has filed complaints with police asking them to investigate the robberies, Col Winthai said.

He said the army had proof that the stolen firearms and bullets were used during the unrest.

He said soldiers could not move past Chaloem Phao junction because they had been held back by men in black firing at them. Security forces were not positioned along the entire length of the skytrain track because they were obstructed by men in black.

He insisted that soldiers were positioned only at the Siam BTS station and did not move any further towards the temple.

Col Winthai said the army did not want to sway the court's decision, but it expected all sides to stick to the evidence when drawing conclusions.

First Army chief Udomdej Seetabutr said yesterday he was not concerned about the testimony against the soldiers over the temple deaths.

He said he was confident soldiers had performed their duties carefully and correctly during the security operations.

BANGKOK POST

[visionchaser45]

Guns are "stolen" from military installations all the time. We all saw video of soldiers firing live rounds into the crowd. It is not hard to believe that those rounds actually hit some of the protesters. The vantage point from whence the fatal shots were fired, however, indicates they may have come from a sniper.

[Curt]

Te story goes something like the army was at both stations, either side of the incident, but they weren't on the tracks. Apparently, "mysterious dark figures" were able to access the tracks without the army noticing. Possibly, they used "mysterious dark helicopters" or "mysterious dark grappling hooks"?

Yes, maybe that's it!