First court hearings into riot deaths
A hearing into the death of red-shirt taxi driver Channarong Polsrila, 45, fatally shot during the May 2010 riots, will begin on June 18.
His will be the first of 16 deaths allegedly at the hand of state officials to be reviewed by the courts in coming months. Altogether 92 people, both civilians and soldiers, died during the unrest.
The Criminal Court yesterday approved the public prosecutor’s plan for court interviews from June 18 to July 30 of 41 witnesses in seven sessions related to the shooting of Channarong in Soi Rang Nam on May 15, 2010.
The court also permitted Channarong’s wife Suriyan and daughter Nipada to be co-plaintiffs, authorised to interview witnesses and to bring another 15 witnesses to testify before the hearing.
Public Prosecutor Wareunee Manyawut yesterday said four people scheduled to testify on June 18 included Suriyan and German photographer Nick Nostitz.
Suriyan said she still couldn’t forget what happened to her husband whom she thought suffered a great deal before dying. She said it was so painful a memory that she still couldn’t go to the Rang Nam area these days. She said life after her husband’s death was difficult, as she was the breadwinner.
Nipada said the investigation into her dad’s death was slow but she was confident of getting justice. Evidence included Nostitz’s photos of Channarong carrying a slingshot and mooning soldiers at a gas station near Rajaprarop Intersection before he was shot and taken away.
At the court yesterday, red-shirt leader Thida Thavornsiri led 30 people to give moral support.
Out of the 16 cases named as unnatural deaths during the 2010 riots, according to the criminal code’s article 150, police investigators have so far submitted five cases for prosecutors to file for hearings. The Criminal Court would consider hearings into four other deaths:
1. March 19: Private Narongrit Sala, killed on April 25, 2010, on Vibhavadi Road.
2. April 23: Phan Khamkong killed on May 15, 2010 in front of IDEO Condominium near the Airport Link station.
3. May 28: Khunakorn Srisuwan killed on May 15, 2010 at Soi OA on Rajaprarop Road.
4. May 21: Japanese cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto, killed on April 10, 2010 in front of Satriwittaya School on Din Sor Road.
