DSI chief defends dropping of lese majeste charges against Jatuporn

“Democrat Suthep Thaugsuban was once the DSI’s political overseer, so I will not talk back to my former boss,” he said.
Tarit said although he respected Suthep, the DSI had drawn the conclusion on the Jatuporn case based on evidence collected from an investigation.
Suthep, who used to supervise the DSI when he was deputy prime minister in the previous government, questioned why Tarit appeared to have shifted his stance following the change of government.
Tarit conceded he had earlier suspected Jatuporn of offending the monarchy but changed his opinion after studying the investigative outcome.
He went on to say that the Office of the Attorney General would have the final say on whether to prosecute Jatuporn.
In a separate development, Pheu Thai MP Kokaew Pikulthong called on red shirts to take part in a rally on Saturday as a gesture to demand the government speed up legal proceedings for red suspects accused of breaking the law during political unrest in mid-2010.
Kokaew said the rally was not meant to drive a wedge between the government and the red shirts but to raise awareness of the plight of suspects trapped in various stages of legal proceedings.
Commenting on the enforcement of the lese majeste law, he said he wanted to see Suthep sue Tarit for a lapse of duty in not prosecuting Jatuporn.
“In his defence, Tarit is expected to reveal how Suthep had been involved in issuing suspicious orders aimed to crack down on the red shirts.”.
He said the so-called conspiracy to topple the monarchy was a fabrication to justify killing, and caused trumped-up charges, scolding and torching of red shirts.
He urged red-shirt suspects charged with insulting royals to step up efforts to draw attention to the courts on how they were “framed”. The lese majeste law was invoked as a political tool to suppress the red shirts, he alleged.
Only the judiciary could resolve the issues, such as bail review and trumped-up charges, because the government and the legislative branch had no mandate to intervene in the judicial process.
Meanwhile, the mother of a victim killed in the 2010 bloodshed at Wat Pathum has demanded a firm date and clear guidelines for the payment of compensation by the PM’s Office.
Phayao Akhad yesterday filed a complaint, saying the authorities failed to pay compensation for her dead daughter Kamolket on May 15, as promised.
“I am very disappointed because the authorities keep shifting the date for compensation payments,” she said.
Phayao said she wanted to bring up the lack of a clear deadline to the attention of PM’s Office secretary-general Tongthong Chandransu, who is in charge of compensating victims of political violence.
She voiced scepticism that the authorities could meet the new deadline of May 24.
She also called on the authorities to clarify the guidelines for payment because many families of people killed were still in the dark on two crucial issues – whether they were entitled to compensation and, if so, when would they get their money.