[AFP] An inquest has ruled that security forces gunned down four unarmed Muslim men in southern Thailand, a rare finding that could pave the way for landmark prosecutions of government officials.
No one from Thai security forces has ever been jailed for extrajudicial killings or torture in the far south, despite frequent allegations of abuse.
Two villagers and two students were gunned down on March 25 last year during a raid in Pattani province when security forces opened fire on a group of suspected insurgents. Initially, the authorities said the men were armed militants, but an investigating panel set up after the killings revealed the four to be unarmed civilians.
Weeks after the killings, Thai police said seven security officers would be charged with murder over the incident. More than a year later, however, no charges have been brought. Activists hope the ruling will finally see criminal charges brought against the culprits
Ms Pornpen Khongkachonkiet of Amnesty International Thailand said, "Sadly, this is not an extraordinary case... we have handled similar cases before. But in the end, you never see any punishment for the officials."
Muslims in the region feel "nothing has changed since Tak Bai", she added, referring to the deaths in 2004 of dozenss of Muslim demonstrators detained by the authorities, a clarion call for the insurgency to this day.
Military spokesman Colonel Pramote Prom-In said,"When there has been a mistake, we cannot deny responsibility... but a court will decide whether the authorities are guilty of rights violations."
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
