Last Friday (22 August), a little over two months before the statute of limitations expire on 25 October, the Narathiwat Provincial Court accepted a lawsuit filed by the families of those killed in the Tak Bai Massacre against officials involved in the incident. 

The plaintiffs and their supporters at court on 23 August. (Photo by Muhammad Dueramae)

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.

No state official has been held accountable for the Massacre. On 25 April, 48 people who lost family members in the Massacre filed a lawsuit against 9 military, police, and civil officials for murder by torture or acts of cruelty, coercion, unlawful detention, and malfeasance.

Last Friday (22 August), the Narathiwat Provincial Court accepted the lawsuit against 7 of the officials:

1. Gen Pisarn Wattanawongkiri, former Fourth Army Region Commander, currently a Pheu Thai party-list MP;
2. Gen Chalermchai Wirunpeth, former Fifth Infantry Division Commander;
3. Pol Gen Wongkot Maneerin, former director of the Royal Thai Police Forward Post’s Command Centre and former Senator;
4. Pol Lit Gen Manot Kraiwong, former Chief of the Provincial Police Region 9 and former Senator;
5. Pol Maj Gen Saksommai Phutthakul, former superintendent of Tak Bai Police Station;
6. Siwa Saengmanee, former deputy director of the Southern Border Provinces Peace Centre and former deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of the Interior; and
7. Wichom Thongsom, ex-governor of Narathiwat.

The remaining two officials, former deputy Fourth Army Region Commander Lt Gen Sinchai Nutsathit and former Tak Bai Police Station deputy superintendent Pol Gen Pakdee Preechachon, were acquitted because they were not at the scene and so there are insufficient grounds to charge them with murder.

Ratsada Manuratsada, a lawyer from the Lawyers’ Council, said that the Court accepted the lawsuit on the ground that live rounds were used during the protest dispersal and because it should have been expected that people would suffocate when they are placed on top of each other in trucks.

The first court date has been scheduled for 12 September. Summonses will be issued for the 7 defendants. The Court has not issued arrest warrants, but will consider doing so if a defendant does not come to court. At least one defendant must come to court before 25 October for the trial to proceed.

The first step to justice

Hayeeding Maiseng, who was injured during the protest at Tak Bai, said that it has been a long wait for the victims and their families who decided to file the lawsuit. He said that the community has been living in fear of state officials since the Massacre, but they are no longer afraid because everyone is ready to fight. He said that they waited 20 years because no one wanted to take the lead, but together, they have the courage to sue.

“We filed the lawsuit because we want justice,” he said. “We don’t want state officials to do it to other people.  It could happen to our children again in the future.  It could get worse like in Palestine.”

He said he hoped the involved officials would confess to their crimes and not to take excessive actions against citizens again. He is confident that justice will be delivered; and if not, he thinks the families may be seeking help from international agencies.

“We don’t want it to be like in the past, when we allowed officials to hurt people. They should treat everyone the same way without discriminating. They should treat us like family. Don’t treat us like we’re not people because we are all equal, because we want us all to be together happily forever,” he said.

Ratsada said that the Tak Bai lawsuit is a historic case, since it would establish that officials should do their job the correct way, not by dispersing protests with live rounds from war weapons.

“Seeking justice by filing the lawsuit is an act of healing for the community members. It is a mental healing. I hope that the Court understands their intentions,” Ratsada said.

Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, Amnesty International’s Thai Researcher, said that the Court’s decision to accept the lawsuit is “an important first step in delivering long overdue justice” to the victims of the Massacre and their families who have spent 20 years waiting for justice and accountability.

“Thai authorities must immediately enforce the court decision and take necessary measures to ensure the case’s statute of limitations does not expire. Authorities must ensure access to justice and effective remedies for victims and their families. The truth about human rights violations committed during the Tak Bai incident must be officially acknowledged,” he said.

Meanwhile, Melissa Upreti, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director, referred to the lawsuit as “a historic step towards justice, but just the beginning of a journey for accountability after a long delay.”

Upreti noted that the Thai government was repeatedly urged to conduct an investigation into the criminal liability of those involved in the Massacre, but has failed to do so. She called on the Thai authorities to ensure that the defendants are brought to justice “so that impunity does not prevail and justice is served.”