Local official claims innocence, says only drove a truck
PUBLISHED : 29 Oct 2024 at 12:22
A local official accused over the mass deaths at the Tak Bai rally has returned to work now the statute of limitations in the case has expired, and not one of the defendants stood trial.
Wissanu Loetsongkram returned to work as district assistant chief at the Tha Uthen district office in Nakhon Phanom province on Monday, the Public Relations Office reported on Tuesday.
He was the first of those accused in connection with the horrific deaths of 85 demonstrators on Oct 25, 2004, to re-appear in public after the case expired.
The 20-year statue of limitations in the case ran out at 11.59pm on Friday and the Provincial Court in Narathiwat province on Monday declared the end of the case.
Mr Wissanu was one of eight people in the second group of defendants. State prosecutors decided in September to arraign them in the Pattani Provincial Court. The court later issued arrest warrants for all defendants in the case, but none of them appeared in court or were even found.
State prosecutors said Mr Wissanu drove one of the trucks that took arrested protesters from the rally site in front of Tak Bai police station to the Ingkayutthaboriharn army fort in Nong Chik district of Pattani province, about 150 kilometres away, in October 2004.
The arrested men were tied up and stacked horizontally in the back of the trucks, and 78 demonstrators died of suffocation during the long, slow drive.
Mr Wissanu refused to opine the case, saying he was only a truck driver, according to the Public Relations Office. Spring News said he was a soldier in the 5th Infantry Division in 2004, but his rank at the time of the tragedy was not known.
He reported to Tha Uthen district chief Preecha Sa-ingthong after returning to work. He had been on sick leave since Oct 15, according to a report by the Nakhon Phanom Press Club on Monday.
Tha Uthen borders Khammouane province in Laos, with the Mekong River dividing to two countries.
The other former suspects in the second group of defendants, all now also legally free, are:
- Maj Gen Chaloemchai Wirunpetch, then 5th Infantry Division commander
- Lt Col Prasert Mattamin
- Sub Lt Nutthawut Luamsai
- Lt JG Wissanukorn Chaisarn
- Piti Yarnkaew
- CPO3 Ratchadet Sisuwan
- Lt Ritthirong Promrit.