Thailand's DSI Denies Leaked Investigative Report Of Japanese Cameraman's Death

[Buchholz]

According to testimonies filed with police, two witnesses saw bullets coming from the soldiers' side. One of the witnesses, who was also shot, was just two metres away from Muramoto when shooting erupted.

I really hope the witness talked about how the bullets hit the person and not that they saw the bullets...

You mean people can't really see a bullet traveling with the velocity of 1,000 meters (3,400 feet) per second?

[animatic]

According to testimonies filed with police, two witnesses saw bullets coming from the soldiers' side. One of the witnesses, who was also shot, was just two metres away from Muramoto when shooting erupted.

I really hope the witness talked about how the bullets hit the person and not that they saw the bullets...

Yes exactly. I have yet to meet anyone who has seen a fired bullet moving.

I have seen stroboscopic camera shots of bullets in flight, I have seen bullets fall on the floor from tables,

and occasionally a bullet is sufficiently slowed to be seen exiting a item it impacted.

But no one sees bullets fired from guns in real time.

So the testimony stating they 'saw bullets' is suspect and not objective at all.

[Buchholz]

Two foreign journalists were killed in crossfire : CPJ

Fabio Polenghi, an Italian freelance photographer, and Hiro Muramoto, a Japanes cameraman for Reuters, were killed in crossfire between Thai security forces and anti-government protesters, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in its year-end report.

In July, a CPJ investigation concluded that both government troops and demonstrators engaged in recklessness that led to the two deaths, said the report released yesterday.

Reuters reported in December that a preliminary government report found that troops may have shot Muramoto.

Polenghi and Muramoto were among five journalists CPJ listed as being killed in connection with their work.

CPJ's report said that at least 42 journalists are killed in 2010 and suicide attacks and violent street protests caused an unusually high proportion of deaths. Online journalists were increasingly prominent among the victims.

Amid a rash of suicide attacks, Pakistan became the world's deadliest country for the press in 2010, with at least eight journalists killed there in connection with their work, constituting a significant portion of the worldwide death toll

Of the 42 journalists killed around the world in 2010, Iraq, Mexico, and Honduras also ranked high for journalism-related fatalities, CPJ's analysis found.

The worldwide toll reflects a notable drop from 2009, when a massacre in the Philippine province of Maguindanao drove the number of work-related deaths to a record 72. CPJ is investigating 28 other deaths in 2010 to determine whether they were work-related.

-- The Nation 2010-12-16