11 July 2024

The Criminal Court on Tuesday acquitted former director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Tarit Pengdit and four other police officers from charges of malfeasance filed against them by former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his then deputy, Mr Suthep Thuagsuban.

Abhisit and Suthep accused Tarit and the four DSI officers of abuse of authority by unlawfully charging them with murder and attempted murder charges for ordering a military crackdown on red-shirt protesters in Bangkok in 2010.

The court ruled that the DSI under Tarit had set up a panel to investigate the Abhisit government’s crackdown on the protesters organized by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship to unseat the government and that the prosecutor also indicted Abhisit and Suthep with murder and attempted murder.

The court also said that the duo could not produce any evidence to prove that they were falsely charged by the DSI.