Inquest into death of Japanese cameraman launched
A Thai court on Monday opened an inquest into thedeath of a Japanese cameraman during a street battle between soldiersand anti-government protesters in Bangkok two years ago.
The Bangkok Southern Criminal Court heard prosecution claims that Hiroyuki Muramoto, a cameraman for Thomson Reuters, was shot dead bysoldiers on April 10, 2010, while filming the conflict in the oldpart of the capital.
The court also opened similar cases in the deaths of four Thaiprotesters killed on the same day.
The prosecution intends to prove that their deaths were caused bythe military, which had been called in to disperse a demonstrationled by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship that hadseized the neighbourhood for weeks.
"These cases are expected to take a long time because they willinvolve many witnesses and a lot of evidence," the chief prosecutortold the court.
About 25 people died in the April 10 melee, including sixsoldiers. From April 10 to May 19, the day the 2010 demonstration wascrushed, an estimated 92 people were killed including a dozensoldiers and police.
No official has been held responsible in the killings.
Human Rights Watch's Thailand representative Sunai Pasuk welcomedthe opening of the inquests Monday but expressed scepticism abouttheir outcomes.
"The trials are not for prosecution but to establish the cause ofdeath," Sunai said. "The outcomes could be used by the relatives ofthe victims to file new cases against those culpable, but this isgoing to take a long time." Hiroyuki was one of two foreign journalists killed in the 2010protests.
Italian freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi was shot during theMay 19 crackdown on the protesters known as "red shirts" that hadoccupied parts of central Bangkok for more than a month. Polenghi'sinquest is to open July 23.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of red shirts returned to centralBangkok to commemorate the crackdown and call on the government tobring to justice those responsible for the deaths.
