December 29, 2004

Panel finds three senior security officers at fault

 PREEYANAT PHANAYANGGOOR

 Pichet: Deaths not caused on purspose

The independent inquiry into the Tak Bai tragedy criticised the disorganised transport of Tak Bai demonstrators, supervised by inexperienced, low-ranking personnel, that led to 78 fatalities, but found the deaths had not been caused intentionally.

 The fact-finding panel, chaired by Pichet Soonthornpipit, said there was no doubt the transfer of around 1,300 demonstrators from Tak Bai police station in 26-28 trucks had involved them being piled atop one another in the trucks, particularly at the back end of the convoy.

 As a result, many suffocated as they were crammed together so tightly in the vehicles. They were also found to have imbalances in their blood composition with their muscles having been destroyed, the nine-page summary findings of the panel, released by the government yesterday stated.

 The commission blamed senior military and police officers for their failure to supervise the transport of those in custody, particularly the Commander of the Fifth Infantry Division, Maj-Gen Chalermchai Viroonpetch, who had been assigned to oversee the transfer of the demonstrators but had left the scene early with no valid reason or justification.

 As a result, the organisation of the transport was left in the hands of inexperienced, low-ranking personnel who were only focused on trying to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible without taking into account other factors.

 The panel also blamed Fourth Army Area Deputy Commander Maj Gen Sinchai Nutsathit for not issuing any warnings or orders to other trucks after discovering protesters had suffocated on the first truck to reach the army camp destination.

 This would have helped to minimise the total number of deaths and the panel deemed this irresponsible conduct.

 The panel findings also faulted Fourth Army Commander Lt-Gen Pisarn Wattanawongkiri as he was in overall charge of the operation and thus responsibility lay with him.

 The panel recommended that in any future handling of incidents similar to Tak Bai, only core demonstrator leaders be held in custody, more care be taken over the safety and well-being of detainees with a sufficient number of vehicles to carry them all and for such operations to be supervised by commissioned officers.

 Those in custody should also be seated upright if transport over long distances was required and officers should be ready to provide basic care for them until they were handed over safely at their destination, the panel said.

 In addition, the probe suggested the setting-up of a committee to determine the amount of compensation for the families of those who died as a result of negligence or misconduct of government officials, and also for the injured and those who went missing during the tragedy.

 The committee would be chaired by Rung Kaewdaeng, the assistant minister, to determine the amount of state assistance and compensation that would be paid to those involved and also their relatives, said Deputy Prime Minister Visanu Krue-ngam.

 He said the committee would also investigate the loss of property of demonstrators to return and compensate them for belongings seized by officers that subsequently vanished, particularly mobile phones.

 Mr Visanu said the government had assigned the Defence Ministry to conduct a disciplinary investigation into the three senior officers named by the inquiry as being at fault as well as allowing police to investigate according to civil law to prosecute those found responsible.

 The panel also called for the speed-up of the investigation into seven people who went missing after the Tak Bai riot though it refused to release their names.