DSI unable to interfere in red-shirt case: panel
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The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) concluded yesterday that it could not do anything to have the terrorism case against red-shirt leaders dropped by Criminal Court.
Pol Colonel Yannapol Yungyuen, deputy chief of DSI, said a DSI working panel had considered all the relevant legal provisions and concluded that the agency – whose function it is to investigate cases – could not do anything now that the suspects had already been indicted.
Justice Minister Pracha Promnok had asked the DSI to consider a request by Pheu Thai MP Weng Tojirakarn, a suspect in the terrorism case related to the 2010 political violence, for the case to be dropped. He gave the DSI 30 days to reply.
Weng submitted the request after the Civil Court ruled in some cases that the arson attack on the CentralWorld department store was not an act of terrorism, but the result of unrest – a result which ensured that insurance firms would have to compensate injured parties.
Yannapol said he would submit a report to the justice minister recommending that Weng’s complaint be forwarded to the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) for consideration.
Yannapol said the DSI could not make any recommendations because it could not interfere in the work of the OAG.
He added that the civil cases were different from criminal terrorism cases as the lawsuit and evidence were presented differently.
Public prosecutors could not withdraw the lawsuit on their own now that the trial had already begun. He said they could only request that the court consider dropping the case.
Winai Damrongmongkolkul, an OAG spokesman who is in charge of the case, said yesterday that he could not comment on the request to drop the case, because he had not seen it yet. He said he would consider the request based on the evidence once he received it from the justice minister.
