Evidence in cabbie's death 'points to security forces'
A Department of Special Investigation (DSI) official told the Criminal Court yesterday that a taxi driver killed during Bangkok unrest in May 2010 was shot dead with a powerful gun belonging to state security officers.
Sanporn Chaiyao, who is a DSI investigator, said he and |officials from the Justice Ministry’s Central Institute of |Forensic Science twice examined the location where Phan Khamkong, a taxi driver from Yasothon, died on May 15, 2010, during a crackdown by security forces. He also questioned| some people who claimed to have been there at the time |of incident.
Sanporn said witnesses and a video recording supported a theory that the man was killed with a high-speed bullet normally fired from weapons issued to government security forces. The official said some witnesses claimed security force members were responsible for the death.
The taxi driver, who took part in a street protest by the red shirts, was killed near the Ratchaprarop Airport Link station.
Yesterday’s hearing was part of a court trial held at the request of public prosecutors into a number of deaths during the unrest in which the perpetrators remain unknown.
Another DSI investigator, Pol Lt-Colonel Anon Untarichan, told the court yesterday he was assigned to investigate the death of a boy during the 2010 unrest. He said it was found the victim was killed when a van was repeatedly shot at near the Airport Link station. According to the official, the van’s driver, who was injured in the shooting, was among those questioned about the incident.
Anon said a photographer from Nation TV handed a video recording of the van shootout to the DSI investigators. A one-minute video clip of the incident was played during yesterday’s court hearing.
The court continues with the hearing of more witnesses this morning.
