UDD to seek reopening of 2010 crackdown probe

THE UNITED Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) will lodge a petition with the Office of the Attorney-General next week, asking the agency to instruct the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to revive its investigation into the 2010 crackdown on red-shirt protesters.
The Supreme Court two weeks ago dismissed murder charges filed by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) against former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his deputy Suthep Thaugsuban. 
The dismissal cited a legal technicality that the cases had to be brought to the court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders by the NACC.
The NACC had dismissed the case in 2015, saying there were illegal armed forces in some areas, suggesting that the killings were murder cases that should be dealt with by a criminal court.
Nattawut Saikua, UDD co-leader, said the verdict suggested that the case could still be brought to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders. 

The Office of the Attorney-General and the NACC would be obliged to follow the verdict, by bringing the case to the right court, he said.
If the NACC required new evidence, the agency had to consider the fact that the Supreme Court had said the killings were the result of a military operation to disperse demonstrators following the instructions of Abhisit and Suthep, as well as the case files of the autopsy, Nattawut said.
He said the agency should charge Abhisit and Suthep immediately for malfeasance, following the court’s remarks.
If the NACC agreed to charge the two men, the red-shirts also called for the Office of the Attorney-General to add it to the murder charges already filed and bring them to the political office holders’ court.
The UDD representatives also threatened to take action against the NACC and the Office of the Attorney-General if they failed to react to the verdict. 
They said they would gather one million signatures to call for authorities to investigate the two agencies. 

If that did not work, the red-shirts said their lawyers would 
 gather evidence and sue operational officers involved in the crackdown, following the NACC’s previous ruling that these people could be guilty if their actions were found to be disproportionate. 
The UDD also said they would collect evidence and show it to the press, both from Thailand and abroad, to expose the difference between the judgements of the NACC in the cases related to the dispersal of red-shirt and yellow-shirt demonstrators. 
They would also hold an academic forum on the rule of law to help create a reconciliation atmosphere in line with the remarks of the King regarding |justice.