Suthep denies troops fired during the day of April 10
Play
Former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban has told the Department of Special Investigation that troops were not the ones that started shooting at red shirt protesters on April 10, 2010.
Speaking to reporters late Monday night after being questioned by DSI investigators for about 10 hours, Suthep said investigators had shown him a YouTube clip, which they claimed has been recorded during the day of April 10.
The clip showed what was purported to be troops firing at redshirt protesters with M16 and Tavor assault rifles.
Suthep said he told the DSI investigators that he had never seen the clip or learned of the shooting because operations to tighten security during the day of April 10 were closely witnessed by both newspaper and TV reporters.
Suthep said the troops tried to reclaim traffic space from the protesters without firing and killing the protesters. He testified to the DSI investigators that the shooting happened on the night of April 10. As a result, he declined to sign his name to endorse the DSI investigators’ document, which alleges that troops fired at the protesters in the daytime.
The former Democrat secretary general said DSI investigators spent about 10 hours questioning him about what happened on April 10 and from then through to the events in May 2010. He said he allowed the investigators to interrogate him non-stop even though he had not eaten.
Suthep said the investigators asked him about the orders for troops and thus he had provided copies of all the orders he had signed as the director of the Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) to the investigators. He also told the investigators that DSI chief Tharit Pengdit was the one to suggest that CRES announce the state of emergency.
