Bangkok bombshell: Thai woman walks as Erawan Shrine case crumbles

[webfact]

Picture of Wanna Suansan (left) and her lawyer courtesy of AP

A Thai court sent shockwaves throughout the capital of Bangkok after clearing Thai woman Wanna Suansan of charges related to the devastating 2015 Erawan Shrine bombing that claimed 20 lives and injured 120 others.

 

Wanna, a Thai national, was acquitted by Bangkok’s Southern Criminal Court today, November 7. The attack, which occurred in the heart of Bangkok, resulted in 20 fatalities and left 120 injured, primarily affecting Chinese tourists visiting the popular spiritual site.

 

Wanna was one of three arrested out of 17 suspects initially linked to the horrific attack. The two others, Yusufu Mieraili and Bilal Mohammad are ethnic Uyghurs from China, a Muslim minority group known to face severe repression. Both men are being tried separately and have been charged with multiple offences, including murder and illegal possession of explosives.

 

In stark contrast, the court found insufficient evidence to connect Wanna to the heinous crime, granting her freedom after years of legal limbo. Her acquittal has raised eyebrows and sparked conversation about the intricacies of the case and the potential motivations behind the bombing.

The initial allegations posited by Thai authorities suggested a complex motive. They claimed that the bombing was an act of vengeance orchestrated by a people-smuggling ring whose operations had been thwarted by a police crackdown.

 

This theory followed the unearthing of several abandoned camps along the Thai-Malaysian border earlier in 2015, which housed Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar and migrants from Bangladesh.

 

Picture of the Erawan Shrine courtesy of The Globe and Mail

However, analysts have speculated on another angle: the possibility of Uyghur separatists retaliating against Thailand’s forcible repatriation of Uyghur refugees to China weeks before the bombing. The fact that the Erawan Shrine is a magnet for Chinese tourists added weight to this political narrative.

 

While the evidence against Mieraili and Bilal allegedly includes video footage, DNA traces, and other damning proof, the case against Wanna was built on more circumstantial grounds. Prosecutors had accused the 36 year old of renting an apartment where police reportedly discovered bomb-making materials. However, Wanna’s defence argued successfully that there was no proof she knew about or assisted in the bombing plot.

 

During the trial, the judge concluded that Wanna’s involvement could not be substantiated. There was no evidence of placing her at the scene, assisting the perpetrators, or even knowing them beyond potentially leasing the apartment in good faith, which she claimed was for acquaintances of her Turkish husband — himself another suspect, though not currently in custody.

Emerging from court, Wanna expressed immense relief.

 

“Today the court acquitted the charges. I’m very happy. I’d like to thank the court because I had been waiting for this day for seven years since I returned.”

Wanna spoke of the personal toll the accusations had taken.

 

“It’s like I didn’t get any justice, and it also damaged my family.”

 

Meanwhile, the trial of Mieraili and Bilal has been plagued with delays, largely due to difficulties in sourcing suitable interpreters. Both men, who have pleaded not guilty, allege they suffered torture during detention.

The trial, still in its witness examination phase, is set to resume in March.

Police assert that Mieraili was the bomb’s detonator, executing the attack moments after Bilal allegedly placed an explosive-laden backpack at the shrine. As legal proceedings continue, the quest for truth and justice in this complex case endures.

 

Picture of Uyghurs Adem Karaday (centre) and Yusufu Mierali courtesy of AP

 

by Bob Scott

 

Source: The Thaiger

-- 2024-11-08

 

 

 

•  

[scubascuba3]

Seems fair enough, 7 years of her life gone

[SAFETY FIRST]

31 minutes ago, webfact said:

Prosecutors had accused the 36 year old of renting an apartment where police reportedly discovered bomb-making materials

 

case against Wanna was built on more circumstantial grounds

Crikey, she had a good lawyer to get off. 

 

If I rented an apartment and drugs, firearms or whatever, something illegal were found I doubt I'd get off. 

 

I always thought circumstantial grounds were justified for prosecution. 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by SAFETY FIRST

[ChrisY1]

This case is a major failure by Thai authorities, IMO, the 2 Uyghur guys may not be the real culprits. "DNA  traces"...does that mean a definitive sample DNA....or traces on someone's DNA.

7 years, 20 deaths and still no court case to me just sounds farcical.

Koh Tao...DNA on a garden hoe handle....that was BS also.

[FritsSikkink]

4 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

I always thought circumstantial grounds were justified for prosecution. 

 

Which they did. Being prosecuted doesn't automatically mean that you will be convicted.

[connda]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

In stark contrast, the court found insufficient evidence to connect Wanna to the heinous crime, granting her freedom after years of legal limbo. Her acquittal has raised eyebrows and sparked conversation about the intricacies of the case and the potential motivations behind the bombing.

 

.....and maybe she wasn't involved.  Acquittal.  Not enough evidence to prove guilt. 

[Classic Ray]

I find it surprising that they have difficulties in getting suitable interpreters since 30% of Thais are descended from Chinese stock.
 

Although maybe the Uighurs speak an uncommon dialect.  
 

I am sure the Chinese government could supply suitable staff as so many of their nationals were affected.

[Purdey]

It seems too often that the RTP says: it was either for this reason or that reason or some other reason. Circumstantial evidence is not evidence that proves anything beyond reasonable doubt.

[Purdey]

16 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

suitable interpreters

I understand they speak a Turkic language rather than Chinese, by am surprised also that they didn't learn Chinese in school.

[Marco51]

13 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

I find it surprising that they have difficulties in getting suitable interpreters since 30% of Thais are descended from Chinese stock.
 

Although maybe the Uighurs speak an uncommon dialect.  
 

I am sure the Chinese government could supply suitable staff as so many of their nationals were affected.

East Turkestan or as the occupying Han maoist empire calls it Xinjiang, is actually a separate country, independant until the Chinese noticed "it has always been China, just like Tibet, most of the Pacific and and and...", ethnically NOT chinese, language very very different, not even same language family, and a long history of it's own, including an Indo-Iranian part that goes back min. 3500 years. An estimated 2 Million of them are currently in concentration camps for wearing beards, praying in public, standing on street corners or just looking suspicious, then working as slaves in the Chinese run cotton industry or at a VW factory in Xinjiang, a fact VW does not like published. Their flag is a bright blue with a white halfmoon and their language and ethnicity a turkmen-kasach origin. And if caught illegal or semilegal in Thailand they get deported to commie China where in general they are sooner or later sentenced to death for ....hmmm, usually being Uighur is enough. Maybe not if they wave the little red book .

[Enoon]

32 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

I find it surprising that they have difficulties in getting suitable interpreters since 30% of Thais are descended from Chinese stock.
 

Although maybe the Uighurs speak an uncommon dialect.  
 

I am sure the Chinese government could supply suitable staff as so many of their nationals were affected.

 

"Uncommon dialect" of what?

 

The Uighur language is a Turkik language and nothing to do with Chinese.

 

It's as different to Chinese as Turkish is,

 

They are a subject people to the Chinese.......a completely different and separate ethno-linguistic cultural group.

 

They are as "NOT CHINESE" as Uzbeks, Khazaks and Khirgiz are.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Enoon

[klauskunkel]

Somyot Poompanmoung was the Police Top Cop at the time, and everything that he had his hands on is suspicious:

Koh Tao murder case

Erewan bombing

Red Bull case

He became Police Chief right after the Prayut/Prawit coup and was also appointed to the National Legislative Council, where his net worth of 355 mio baht was revealed. He never had to explain his unusual wealth from a government salary... 

Google his name to find his WikiPedia, it's interesting.

 

That's him in the limelight answering questions about the bombing:

 

 

[Rimmer]

Troll post and replies have been removed

[Homburg]

Wow! Just Wow! I wonder who funded that "decision".

[billd766]

7 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Crikey, she had a good lawyer to get off. 

 

If I rented an apartment and drugs, firearms or whatever, something illegal were found I doubt I'd get off. 

 

I always thought circumstantial grounds were justified for prosecution. 

 

Proof is always a good thing to have for the prosecution.

 

Whether she is innocent or guilty, I have no idea and unless anybody was at the court all the time that she was on trial, I doubt if anybody else knows either. The judge made his opinion on the evidence brought before him in a legal court, NOT in the court of the internet social justice.

Edited 1 hour ago by billd766
corrected some bad spelling

[Docno]

20 minutes ago, Marco51 said:

East Turkestan or as the occupying Han maoist empire calls it Xinjiang, is actually a separate country, independant until the Chinese noticed "it has always been China, just like Tibet, most of the Pacific and and and...", ethnically NOT chinese, language very very different, not even same language family, and a long history of it's own, including an Indo-Iranian part that goes back min. 3500 years. An estimated 2 Million of them are currently in concentration camps for wearing beards, praying in public, standing on street corners or just looking suspicious, then working as slaves in the Chinese run cotton industry or at a VW factory in Xinjiang, a fact VW does not like published. Their flag is a bright blue with a white halfmoon and their language and ethnicity a turkmen-kasach origin. And if caught illegal or semilegal in Thailand they get deported to commie China where in general they are sooner or later sentenced to death for ....hmmm, usually being Uighur is enough. Maybe not if they wave the little red book .

The Chinese government is no doubt guilty of severe human rights abuses in Xinjiang, but the Chinese have had (an imperial) presence there for more than 2000 years, and the area was fully 'absorbed' into China in 1759. That's just 52 years after Scotland lost its independence in the Acts of Union. It's actually the same year that the French were cut off from Quebec in Canada, and the Canadiens were 'absorbed' into British North America. Many of Russia's non-ethnically-Russian republics were absorbed into Russia in the 19th century (and many willingly). Hawaiians were forced to join the US in that century as well. There are many instances around the world of peoples of different ethnicity/religion/culture being absorbed into larger nation-states, willingly or not, and many of the ones we don't question happened more recently than Xinjiang. 

[thaichiro]

The worst lawyers work for the gov. Low pay and long hours of a** kissing.

[Jonathan Swift]

8 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Crikey, she had a good lawyer to get off. 

 

If I rented an apartment and drugs, firearms or whatever, something illegal were found I doubt I'd get off. 

 

I always thought circumstantial grounds were justified for prosecution. 

 

yeah, well , you don't know what you're talking about. Have you been to law school? Were you there at the trial? Have you seen the evidence? If you knew anything about law besides what you get from over simplified news you'd know that just having a good lawyer isn't enough to get a guilty party an acquittal. You're right about one thing, circumstantial evidence can rise to probable cause and prosecution, but if there is no other actual material proof circumstantial evidence is not enough to prove someone has committed a crime. In which case, you need a good lawyer simply to achieve justice for the innocent.

Edited 31 minutes ago by Jonathan Swift

[SAFETY FIRST]

4 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

8 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

yeah, well , you don't know what you're talking about.

 

That's a bit harsh Johnny boy. 

 

There's no need for hostility, just an explanation would suffice.