Prawit promises to activate judicial process over Pattani killings

His comments followed a fact-finding committee’s report on Tuesday that investigations had proved the four men were innocent and not connected to the ongoing insurgency.
Prawit, who also serves as defence minister, told reporters yesterday that officials would act on the committee’s findings. Insisting that national security officers worked with good intentions and wanted to restore peace in the restive region, he said, if mistakes are made then things will have to proceed in as per the justice system.
“This should serve as a cautionary lesson. I believe the officers were doing their best, but this operation took place at night, which means there might have been other factors leading to mistakes. However, all of them will have to undergo the judicial process,” he said, adding that the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre was looking at details for remedial measures for the affected.
“The Thung Yang Daeng Model allows people participation [in watching out for suspicious persons and items], but national security officers must be able to separate good persons from the bad in order to prevent problems in operations,” he added.
On Tuesday, Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) Region 4 Front Command spokesman Pramote Prom-in said the investigation result was an initial report and could not be legally binding as this case still had to be proved in court.
In related news, Mental Health Centre Region 12 director Petchdao Tohmeena said yesterday that officials would wait for about a month before visiting the slain men’s families and relatives, because they were currently being visited by members of the media and other agencies. For the time being, the families are being helped at the Thung Yang Daeng Hospital, she said.
After a month, the number of visitors should reduce, hence it would be better for the centre’s officials to visit the victim’s families. She said it would take them more than three months to recover from grief, as the deaths were so sudden.
Petchdao also called on the authorities to show their sincerity by having the wrongdoers undergo the judicial process and announce how they will be punished instead of going quiet once remedial measures have been put in place, a tendency seen in previous cases.