Army Commander General Prayuth Chan-ocha (pictured left) has called on the Department of Special Investigation (DSI, the Thai FBI) to speed up its investigation into the deaths and injuries of the April and May 2010 disturbances. , have complained to the military and inquired about the progress of the investigation.
Yesterday, the army and red shirts (pictured right) commemorated the third anniversary of the fighting on April 10. The army then had to end the occupation by red shirts of the Khok Wua intersection on Ratchadamnoen Avenue. 26 people were killed, including Romklao Thuwatham, colonel at the time and posthumously promoted to general.
A Senate submission said on Tuesday it also criticized the slow progress of the DSI investigation. The commission heard more than 10 witnesses and sifted through piles of evidence. She says heavily armed 'men in black' (named after their clothing) attacked security forces on April XNUMX. According to the commission, the general was killed by two grenades thrown from the red shirts.
According to DSI head Tarit Pengdith, Romklao was said to have been killed by members of an 'unidentified group'. No arrests have yet been made due to lack of evidence. “So far we only have pictures of possible suspects. They remain unidentified.'
Incidentally, it seems that the DSI, under the influence of the red shirts, is trying to blame the army for all 90 deaths. The court has already determined that some of the deaths were caused by army fire. The red shirts, meanwhile, stubbornly maintain that these 'men in black' are an invention of the then Abhisit government. The DSI has already threatened to prosecute Abhisit and his then deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban.
(Source: Bangkok Post, Apr 11, 2013)
April 10, 2010, like many others, I received an email from the Dutch embassy with the warning not to go to that area. I turned on the TV to see what was happening live. I will never forget what I saw, Reds moving towards the soldiers.
One of the red shirts stood out above the others and immediately afterwards fell face first towards soldiers. I shouted to my wife: “come and see the reds shoot at their own people. They shoot them in the back.” Then I saw something explode between a group of soldiers. The dead were called martyrs and the bodies were claimed by the UUD to be cremated within 1 week. Evidence gone!!
It is a pity that the demonstrations were not put to an end immediately after 10 April. It would have killed too, but probably not 92 total.