BANGKOK, Thailand – Thailand’s Attorney General has ordered the prosecution of eight suspects, Sept 18, including vehicle controllers and drivers, in the 2004 Tak Bai incident that resulted in 78 deaths. The suspects face charges of joint murder.
The case stems from an October 25, 2004 protest in Tak Bai district, Narathiwat province, where authorities arrested protesters and transported them in military trucks to a nearby army camp. Upon arrival, 78 detainees were found dead due to suffocation.
Prosecutor spokesman Prayuth Petcharakhun stated that while the suspects may not have intended the deaths, their decision to transport over a thousand protesters in just 25 trucks was deemed inappropriate and likely to cause suffocation.
The Attorney General’s office received the case file from the Royal Thai Police on April 25, 2024, and ordered additional investigations. On September 12, 2024, the Attorney General concluded there was sufficient evidence to prosecute all eight suspects for murder.
The high-profile defendants include former Fifth Infantry Division commander Maj Gen Chalermchai Wirunpeth and other military officers involved in the operation.
The Attorney General has instructed the police to formally charge the suspects and transfer them to the Pattani Provincial Prosecutor’s Office for further legal proceedings.
This prosecution comes nearly 20 years after the incident, which has long been a point of contention in Thailand’s restive southern border provinces. (TNA)
