Narathiwat, 15 Oct. – No trace of 7 defendants. Narathiwat Provincial Court scheduled a second examination of the Tak Bai tragedy case. The examination was postponed again. The case has not yet been dismissed, even though the statute of limitations will expire on 25 Oct.
At the Narathiwat Provincial Court, the 48 plaintiffs, some of whom are now disabled, came to court with their relatives to wait to hear the court examine the statements of the defendants in the Tak Bai tragedy case, whether or not the 7 defendants they had sued would come to court and in what direction the examination of statements would go. But as of now at 12:00 noon, not a single defendant has appeared in court. There are 9 defendants in total, but the court dismissed 2 of them:
Defendant 1: General Pisal Wattanawongkiri, former commander of the 4th Army Region, who was summoned by the court because he was a party-list MP of the Pheu Thai Party, but did not report on the appointed date. The court therefore issued an arrest warrant. Defe
ndant 2: Lt. Gen. Sinchai Nutstatit, former commander of the 5th Infantry Regiment (the case was dismissed during the investigation of the grounds for the lawsuit). Defendant 3: General Chalermchai Wirunphet, commander of the 5th Infantry Regiment. Defendant 4: Pol. Gen. Wongkot Maneerin, director of the Forward Police Operation Center. Defendant 5: Pol. Lt. Gen. Manoch Kraiwong, former commander of the 9th Provincial Police Region. Defendant 6: Pol. Maj. Gen. Saksommai Phutthakul, former superintendent of Tak Bai Provincial Police. Defendant 7: Pol. Col. Phakdi Preechachon, deputy commander of Yala Provincial Police. (Dismissed at the investigation stage) Defendant No. 8, Mr. Siwa Saengmani, Director of the Peacebuilding Command Center, and Defendant No. 9, Mr. Wichian Thongsong, former Governor of Narathiwat Province.
Previously, officials searched the residences of the seven defendants but did not find them. Today is the second time after the Narathiwat Provincial Court had scheduled a hearing for questio
ning on September 12, but they did not appear in court and the hearing was postponed to October 15. After this, we will have to wait for the court’s order to consider or issue an order. The 48 villagers who are the plaintiffs can only hope that the seven defendants will come to court to prove the truth or, if they are wrong, they will face the consequences.
The Narathiwat Provincial Court recently took the bench but none of the seven defendants appeared in court. The court therefore postponed the examination of the defendants’ statements until October 28, 2024. Due to doubts about the statute of limitations for this case expiring on October 25, what will be the effect? ??It has been confirmed that under the court’s authority, this case is still of interest to many people because it involves high-ranking officials. Therefore, the court will not dismiss the case. In addition, from questioning the prosecutor who is the lawyer for the 8th and 9th defendants, he said that he could not contact the defendants. – Th
ai News Agency
c
Source: Thai News Agency