A blunder that could come back to haunt the govt

Whether Nattatida Meewangpla is guilty of organising bomb attacks in Bangkok, no one can say. The jury has not yet spoken.
But this volunteer nurse deserves her day in court and nobody in this country can take that away from her.
Nattatida was a key witness in the 2010 Wat Pathum Wanaram shootings when soldiers allegedly fired at civilians during the stand-off between the Abhisit Vejjajiva government and the red shirts. The shootings at the wat marked one of the darkest moments in Thailand’s recent history of political turmoil.
Nattatida was held incommunicado for a week by the military, who initially denied abducting her from her home in Samut Prakan.
But on Tuesday, the military handed her over to the Metropolitan Police Bureau. She has been charged with committing terrorist acts and denied bail.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said police are investigating her for alleged involvement in a grenade attack at the Bangkok Criminal Court on March 7.
Given the highly controversial nature of her case, plus the allegations she has made against the military over the 2010 incident, it would be in the interest of the government and the law enforcers to handle this case with extreme caution.
Any action that could create the impression she is being treated unfairly should be avoided at all costs.
In this respect, abducting her and holding her incommunicado for a week was probably the least effective way of ensuring she gets a fair and speedy trial. The act itself undermined the country’s justice system.
Nattatida will have her day in court, however. She has been accused of having links to the grenade attack on the Criminal Court on March 7 and the twin bomb attack near the entrance of Siam Paragon shopping centre on February 1.
Her detention this week may be in line with the martial law now in effect.
But that military law permits the authorities to hold a person incommunicado is extremely problematic, especially when the person is a key witness in a shooting that claimed the lives of six people as the Army cleared the streets of red-shirt protesters on May 19, 2010.
Does the junta not realise that holding her in secret could undermine the ongoing investigations, whether of the 2010 shooting or the bomb attacks in Bangkok over the past two months?
Moreover, do the authorities not see that the decision to detain Nattatida will be perceived as politically motivated by much of the Thai populace and the wider world?
After all, here is a woman who stepped forward to claim she saw soldiers firing into the wat, where she was stationed as a nurse, at unarmed civilians.
The junta leaders who are now running Thailand were in charge of security when the shootings took place in May 2010. At the time, General Prawit Wongsuwan was defence minister, General Anupong Pao-chinda was Army chief and General Prayut Chan-o-cha was his deputy commander.
Needless to say, the junta’s spokesmen are out of their depth when it comes to giving information on this case. The three leaders who were in power in May 2010 and who are now running the country need to come forward and clear the air and their names.
They need to instruct all relevant agencies to handle this case in a transparent manner and with sensitivity, because every stupid mistake made will come back to haunt them.