Tarit explains away his two decisions on royal insult
Play
Democrat-led government had cited the alleged conspiracy to topple the monarchy as a political ploy to counter and end the red-shirt protests in 2010, hinted Tarit Pengdit, chief of Department of Special Investigation director general.
Department of Special Investigation director general Tarit Pengdith on Friday hinted that the Democrat-led government had cited the alleged conspiracy to topple the monarchy as a political ploy to counter and end the red-shirt protests in 2010.
Tarit also conceded that despite his initial suspicions, he dropped the royal insult charges against red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan after factoring in the opinions of relevant parties.
In his interview, aired by Spring News Channel, Tarit said he suspended the DSI investigation into the alleged conspiracy because no security agencies stepped forward to confirm the authenticity of or their involvement in making up the chart depicting the 39 conspirators.
He said the DSI could and would reopen the case if fresh evidence were uncovered.
The alleged conspiracy came to light at the height of the 2010 political strife. The chart depicting the conspirators was circulated at the Centre of the Resolution of the Emergency Situation.
He said he then served in the CRES and was proud of his role in resolving the political violence.
He said that then CRES director Suthep Thuagsuban might have given out information about an alleged conspiracy in the hope of forcing an end to the protests.
The security agencies compiled the chart and the law enforcement agencies were obliged to uphold the lese majeste law, he said.
Of the 39 conspirators, some 20 are in various stages of legal proceedings. The remaining 19 have been grouped together under one single conspiracy, he said. In order to prosecute the 19, the authenticity of the conspiracy chart had to be verified but no security agencies have stepped forward, causing the case to stall, he added.
With regard to the Jatuporn case, he said he initially suspected Jatuporn of committing a royal insult in connection with his April 10, 2011 speech at the red-shirt rally.
The statements by neutral witnesses, including linguistic experts, convinced him that Jatuporn did not aim his remarks at the monarchy but at the then government leaders, such as Abhisit Vejjajiva and Suthep, he said.
