The first hearing of the Ratchaprasong-Sathorn pier bomb blasts scheduled on Tuesday was adjourned until September 15 after an Uyghur-speaking interpreter jumped bail and is on the run with a court warrant issued for his arrest.
The two Uyghur defendants, Adem Karadag and Yusufu Mieraili, were escorted to the Bangkok military court by corrections officials to attend the first hearing of trial for the bomb explosions at the Erawan Shrine at Ratchaprasong intersection and, later on, at Sathorn pier, on August 17, 2015 which left at least 20 people killed and over 100 injured.
Pol Lt-Col Tuaythep David Vibulsilp of the Special Branch police was appointed an English-Thai interpreter. However, the Uyghur-speaking interpreter, Bukkaderok Zirojidins, who was appointed by the court, failed to show up. It was reported that the interpreter who faces a charge lodged against him with Lumpini police jumped bail and is on the run.
With the absence of the Uyghur-speaking interpreter, the court decided to adjourn the hearing until September 15 during which time a new interpreter would have to be found.
Adem Karadag’s Thai lawyer, Chuchart Kanpai, said he had proposed an interpreter from the World’s Uyghur Congress while the court also proposed for a new interpreter.
The lawyer went on to say that the Corrections Department had notified him that the two defendant’s request to be transferred from the temporary prison on Nakhon Chaisri road to Bangkok special prison was turned down for security reasons.
