After failing to appear for their trials, the Narathiwat Court issued arrest warrants today for six of the seven people allegedly responsible for a deadly crackdown on Thai-Muslim protesters, which led to the infamous "Tak Bai massacre" twenty years ago.
The seventh defendant is retired Lt Gen Pisan Wattanawongkiri, a former fourth army region commander, who is now a party list MP for the ruling Pheu Thai Party.
The court could not issue an arrest warrant for Pisan due to his immunity while parliament is in session.
The court will issue an urgent notice to the House Speaker, requesting permission to arrest Pisan and asking Pisan to wave his immunity. If he agrees to do so, he will be required to appear in court on October 15th.
The other defendants are:
• Former Fifth Infantry Division commander Maj Gen Chalermchai Wirunpeth
• Former director of the Royal Thai Police’s Forward Command Centre, Pol Lt Gen Wongkot Maneerin
• Former chief of Provincial Police Region 9, Pol Lt Gen Manot Kraiwong
• Former superintendent of Tak Bai police station, Pol Col Saksomchai Phutthakul
• Former deputy director of the Southern Border Provinces Peacebuilding Centre, Siwa Sangmanee (later Interior Ministry deputy permanent secretary)
• Former Narathiwat governor, Wichom Thongsong.
The court stated that enforcement officials are authorised to arrest the six defendants within the statute of limitations, which expires on October 25.
The incident occurred on October 25, 2004, during a protest by approximately 1,500 Thai Muslims in front of the Tak Bai district police station in Narathiwat.
They were protesting the detention of six men. When the crowd attempted to cross the police barrier and enter the station, they were met with a barrage of tear gas and water cannons. The crowd responded by throwing stones.
Police fired live ammunition into the air and then at the protesters, resulting in seven deaths.
Almost 1,300 protesters were detained at the scene, with 78 dying of suffocation and organ failure after being stacked on top of each other in trucks during a five-hour journey to the Inkayut army camp in Pattani Province.
