Court acquits five accused of killing police officer
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Five men indicted as members of a terror group in the deep South were acquitted yesterday of the murder of a policeman plus acts of violence and terrorism on grounds of insufficient evidence against them.
Criminal Court judges also said interrogation of the five men at night-time for several hours would result in sleep deprivation and it may have limited their capacity to give statements as completely as people not under duress would. The court ordered them to be kept in detention for a period until public prosecutors appeal against the acquittal.
The defendants are Mustopa Jehya, Ilyas Manwang, Usman Pachee, Ulai Sohpana-e and Ma-arsi Bunphol. All were indicted as members of Bersatu, which has acted under supervision of BRN Coordinate, a known active terror group responsible for many attacks and deaths in the deep South. The men were arrested following the gunning down of a senior policeman in Pattani’s Muang district in December 2004.
Judges said material witnesses for the prosecution failed to show what the five defendants said to each other despite SIM cards and mobile phones being seized from them. No murder weapons, or any other weapons or munitions were found with them during or after the arrests. And the five were not on any list of suspected insurgents in the deep South, according to defence testimony provided by military or civilian intelligence officials.
Meanwhile, two defence volunteers were severely injured when insurgents detonated a roadside bomb to ambush their unit yesterday.
The attack occurred on the Manangkuapoh-Tanyongmus Road in Tohphoka village in Tambon Tanyongmus in Rangae district at 3:10 pm.
The two injured defence volunteers were identified as Mahama Paoyijehsoh, 46, and Li Dona, 29. They were severely injured by bomb shrapnel and rushed to the Narathiwat Provincial Hospital.
The two were riding on a motorcycle along with two other volunteers on another motorcycle to provide security for a sport competition when insurgents detonated the bomb using a wired remote.
The insurgents then opened fire at the volunteers and the two sides exchanged gunfire for about five minutes before the insurgents retreated.
In Pattani a woman was wounded when a hand grenade was thrown into her shop and exploded in Panare district yesterday afternoon.
