BANGKOK, Aug 25 — Three supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), also known as the Red Shirt movement, were acquitted by a court in metropolitan Bangkok for illegal possession of military weapons and charges of forging documents, as the court gave them the benefit of doubt.
Phrakhanong Provincial Court on Thursday read its verdict on three Red Shirt activists — Narumon Warunroongroj, Surachai Nilsopha and Chatree Srijinda — who were arrested and charged with illegal possession of war weapons and document forgery.
The three were arrested on May 3 last year during the confrontation between Red Shirt protesters and government security forces. They were allegedly found with arms and munitions including assault rifles — five AK47s and one M16, one carbine, 17 ammunition magazines, eight hand grenades, four M79 grenades, three teargas grenades, many cartridges bullets, 10 homemade bombs, and 102 bottles of petrol which could be used as Molotov cocktails or bomb making.
On April 10, 2010, the second defendant — Mr Surachai — using falsified documents automobile registration plates and documents.
When the three were arrested at a house in southeastern Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi On Nut, they denied all charges.
The court said in its verdict that although the authorities had carried out their duties under the emergency decree and found the evidence at the house, there was no report about the arrest and the weapons were not given to the Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES). Additionally, while over 20 photos of firearms hidden in a golf bag that was confiscated as evidence during the search, the pictures were not given to the investigators.
The court said there was no reason given why evidence was not forwarded to the investigators.
The defendants continued to assert their innocence and denied all charges, leading the court to acquit the trio for the benefit of the doubt.
As for the document forgery charges, the court said that the prosecutor could not find witnesses to confirm the use of the counterfeit license plates, and there was no proof that the three had used the weapons to shoot at helicopters during the Red Shirt protest.
The trio are still in custody pending an appeal by the state prosecutor.
