The Narathiwat Provincial Court will rule this Friday (23 August) whether to accept a lawsuit filed by the families of those killed in the Tak Bai Massacre against officials involved in the incident. With the statute of limitations expiring on 25 October, the families are hoping for closure and accountability.

“[The families] got together and talked about whether we are going to let it end without doing anything, or are we going to try to fight for justice for the dead,” said Ma (pseudonym), whose older brother was among the 85 people killed in the Tak Bai Massacre.

On 25 October 2004, a demonstration took place in front of the Tak Bai Provincial Police Station in Narathiwat.  The protest was in response to the detention of 6 members of a village security team accused of providing arms to insurgents. The detainees claimed that their weapons had been stolen. After the crowd grew to around 2000 people, police attempted to disperse the protest with tear gas and water cannons. When protesters responded by throwing rocks, police shot them, killing 7 people.

Over 1300 people were detained at the scene. They were stripped to the waist and had their hands tied behind their backs. Some were beaten with gunstocks. They were then stacked on top of each other in trucks and transported to Fort Ingkhayutthaborihan, a military base in Pattani, 150 kilometres from the original location of the protest. 78 more people died from suffocation or organ failure during the 5-hour drive.

A photograph of the Tak Bai Massacre displayed in an exhibition. (Photo by Kotcharak Kaewsurach)

No state official has been held accountable for the Massacre. Useng Dolah, a lawyer from the Muslim Attorney Foundation (MAC), said that it would normally be the job of an inquiry officer to compile evidence and bring those responsible to justice. He speculated that the authorities neglected to do their job because high-ranking officials were involved in the incident.

“For the community members, the only thing they could do was hold memorials, but when [Amnesty International Thailand] conducted fieldwork there last year, everyone was aware that time was running out, so they started to become active and decided that, since there is a way, they should try something, because it is their last chance to fight,” Useng said.

The lawsuit was filed on 25 April by 48 people who lost family members in the massacre against 9 military, police, and civil officials. The charges included murder by torture or acts of cruelty, coercion, unlawful detention, and malfeasance. They are represented by MAC lawyers and supported by the Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF).

CrCF director Pornpen Khongkachonkiet explained that the Court has held preliminary hearings to determine whether to accept the lawsuit. With the 20-year statute of limitations fast approaching, Pornpen said they needed the Court to accept the lawsuit and bring the defendants to court to stop the clock.

Even if the lawsuit is accepted, the defendants still need to come to court and participate in the proceedings before the statute of limitations expires. If a defendant does not present themselves to court by 25 October, the case would be dropped. Concerns have been raised that one of the defendants, who is now a Member of Parliament, will use his parliamentary immunity to avoid coming to court while parliament is in session and charges against him will be dropped.

Pornpen Khongkachonkiet

Pornpen noted several abnormalities in the proceedings. She said that the authorities appeared to have made no progress during the past 20 years, but the police suddenly started compiling a case file while lawyers were preparing the lawsuit. Families of victims were also summoned to the police station, which made them feel threatened.

“From the perspective of the community members, no one has called them in for questioning for the past 20 years. Suddenly, when they try to sue, the police called them to the police station. The community members felt like they were being threatened and harassed. The police claimed that they were being questioned as witnesses, but some people decided to back out, while others felt that they needed to be especially brave because they were being continuously harassed,” Pornpen said.

Meanwhile, the preliminary hearings have been postponed even though no one filed for a postponement. Useng said that some defendants did not come to court, appointing a lawyer to come in their place, but none requested to have the hearings postponed. However, the judge decided to postpone the hearings out of concern about possible issues arising from growing public attention on the case.

Pornpen feels that the Court should have completed the hearing, since defendants are not legally required to come to court if they have appointed a lawyer.

“The judges suddenly ordered the hearing adjourned and walked out to discuss something with each other. It was already afternoon by the time the hearings really began.  It took more time,” Pornpen said.

Useng Dolah

Useng also raised questions about the court’s independence.  In cases relating to national security involving charges with a high penalty, three judges are required: a presiding judge, another judge from the same court, and another assigned by the Chief Justice or Deputy Chief Justice. A judge from the Region 9 Appeal Court also has to participate in the trial.

As the Narathiwat Provincial Court prepares to rule on whether to accept the lawsuit, the families are hoping for closure and accountability. Ma said that, while it is often reported that the victims of the Tak Bai Massacre died from suffocation, he believes they died at the hands of the officials and asked how many people were shot during the incident, noting that there were two bullet wounds on his brother’s body. Four other people from Ma’s village were killed during the Massacre and, he said, their bodies were returned with their necks broken. Their faces were swollen to the point of being unrecognisable. Ma said his family only recognised his brother because of a ring he was wearing.

Ma hopes that there will finally be justice for the families and that someone will be held accountable for the deaths of 85 people.

“Community members will know that their children or husbands did not die in vain. There  will be justice in Thailand and the three Deep South provinces when someone is held responsible for the deaths of 85 people, many of whom died for reasons other than suffocation,” he said.

“Community members accept the deaths,  we cannot avoid death, but we want to know the facts. It should not be said that they suffocated when in fact they died because of the actions of officials. We want a real apology, not just empty words.”

Useng knows that there is a long way to go to to get a guilty verdict, but believes that getting the Court to accept the lawsuit would be a partial victory. He feels that it would show that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, that officials have to be careful and cannot do whatever they please. He also thinks it would restore hope that extrajudicial killings will be investigated causing people to have more trust in the justice system.

“There is a foreign proverb that says ‘no justice, no peace,’” he said. “Without justice, there will not be peace, but in our country, there is not a lot of progress because justice cannot be provided for the people. If the Tak Bai case can set an example, it will show that the government cares about the people they call their own citizens.”