BANGKOK, Dec 14 – Thailand’s embattled chief investigator Tarit Pengdith vowed today to continue his probe into the fatal shootings of 91 civilians in 2010 which implicated two Democrat Party heavyweights and drew public criticism.
Giving assurances that transparency would be maintained in the investigation, the director general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) told a press conference that he will not resign as chief of the investigative team.
“I don’t want to simply walk away and leave the pressure to my subordinates,” he said.
He said the charges against former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva and his then-deputy Suthep Thaugsuban was co-signed by Panupong Chotisin, executive director of the Attorney General Office who agreed with the DSI.
The DSI charged the two Democrat MPs with conspiring in the fatal shootings of 91 protesters in the 2010 political demonstrations in Bangkok in their capacities as heads of the then government and the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), specially set up to keep public order.
Mr Tarit said the defendants signed to acknowledge the charges against them but gave only verbal acknowledgement to the DSI’s four-point condition which, among other points, bars them from leaving the country and appearing at the podium or on public stages in political gatherings.
Mr Abhisit said after appearing before the DSI Thursday yesterday that he rejected all the charges against him and Mr Suthep and refused to acknowledge the DSI’s four-point condition.
At the four-hour hearing, the Democrat MPs were fingerprinted – a procedure made behind closed doors but a photo of them was shown on a social media network last night.
Mr Tarit said he has set up a committee to investigate the leak of the photo to the public. He argued that some Democrats who accompanied the pair made photographs with their mobile phones.
