With the statute of limitations set to expire this Friday in a case stemming from the 25 October 2004 Tak Bai Massacre, the police have yet to locate trial defendants, at least several of whom reportedly fled overseas.

Wanted posters for officials facing trial for the Tak Bai Massacre put up around the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) during a gathering on 15 October. (Photo by Ginger Cat)

Matichon Online cites Police Chief Pol Gen Kittirat Phanphet as saying that police are still trying to track down seven former officials facing trial for the Massacre as the result of a lawsuit filed by victims’ family members.  They have reportedly also been unable to locate 7 other former security personnel indicted by the Office of the Attorney General for the same incident.

According to Pol Gen Kittirat, the police have conducted numerous searches and are on watch to prevent the defendants from fleeing the country.

It may already be too late.  Police officers testifying before the Senate Standing Committee on Political Development, Public Participation, Human Rights, Freedoms, and Consumer Protection said that some of the defendants have fled to other countries, including to the UK, Japan, and Laos.

Thai authorities have reportedly also filed INTERPOL red notices for the defendants, although these have yet to appear in INTERPOL’s public database.  Provincial Police Region 9 Pol Col Rangsi Manjit told the Committee that the department’s foreign affairs division issued notices for the defendants and also reached out to the Customs Department and the embassies of the UK and Japan.

Senator Angkhana Neelapaijit, chair of the committee, said that the government should consider extending the statute of limitations with an emergency decree. Aware that state officials who commit crimes, especially in the Deep South, are seldom held to account, she also believes that the public prosecutor, not families of the victims, has the duty to pursue a case involving mass murder.

Angkhana pointed to the need for legal reforms, including ending statutes of limitations in cases that involve grave human rights violations and allowing for victims’ partners, married or otherwise, to file complaints on their behalves.

Phumtham Wechayachai, deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, said today (24 October) that it is not possible to extend the statute of limitations with an emergency decree, since issuing such a decree can only be done in cases of emergencies and the Tak Bai case does not meet the criteria.