Abhisit formally acknowledges 2010 crackdown charge

[webfact]

Abhisit Formally Acknowledges 2010 Crackdown Charge
By Khaosod English

BANGKOK — Former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has formally acknowledged the "abuse of power" charge filed against him for his role in the deadly crackdown on Redshirt protesters in 2010.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit dispatched his lawyer, Bundit Sitthipan, to hear the charge on his behalf at the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) headquarters today.

Abhsit’s deputy at the time, Suthep Thaugsuban, was also summoned to acknowledge the charge. Bundit said he is still "coordinating" with Suthep, who led the anti-government protests that preceded the May 2014 coup and is now living as a monk in Surat Thani.

In February the NACC charged Abhisit and Suthep with “abuse of power” for failing to stop the use of excessive violence against civilians in the military crackdown they authorized on Redshirt protesters in April - May 2010. More than 90 people were killed in the violence, including demonstrators, soldiers, rescue workers, and two foreign journalists.

The charge is a preliminary step in an impeachment process against the politicians. If the NACC continues with the case, Abhisit and Suthep’s fate will be determined by the junta-appointed interim parliament, who will vote on whether to retroactively impeach the pair and thereby ban them from political office for five years.

Bundit, the lawyer who represented Abhisit today, declined to say whether military commanders involved the operation, such as the current Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, would be summoned as witnesses in the investigation.

"How many people will be summoned and how many witnesses there are depends on the NACC. I cannot say at the moment," Bundit said.

Abhisit previously urged the NACC to interview the army commanders who led the crackdown, saying they would know more details about the operation.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1425972132

-- Khaosod English 2015-03-10

[ExPratt]

Another one of these back dated impeachments ?. Some people do have to answer for the death of those protesters , not sure this is the right way

Edited March 10, 2015 by ExPratt

[Costas2008]

Another one of these back dated impeachments ?. Some people do have to answer for the death of those protesters , not sure this is the right way

The people that prompted them to go and violently protest should answer for their deaths.

And you know very well who these people are.

I condemn their deaths and hope one day these red leaders will face justice.

[greenchair]

I do believe Suthep has no desire to hold any political position in the next 5 years. He has been given the rewards of his protests already I am sure.

These charges do seem to come to the forefront just as abhisit is speaking out against the new constitution and all its facets.

So that's ptp out the way.

The Democrats out the way.

Nothing should get in the way of the master plan .

Don't worry people, Prayuth will take care of everything.

[ExPratt]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I do believe Suthep has no desire to hold any political position in the next 5 years. He has been given the rewards of his protests already I am sure.
These charges do seem to come to the forefront just as abhisit is speaking out against the new constitution and all its facets.
So that's ptp out the way.
The Democrats out the way.
Nothing should get in the way of the master plan .
Don't worry people, Prayuth will take care of everything.

Thats how I feel about it , as mentioned someone has to answer for the deaths, but the sentiment behind it may be to take a swipe at potential, future Junta rivals, who knows

[2fishin2]

Oh give me a break....you guys think he should be held personally responsible for the deaths? Do you guys live on planet earth? Are military leaders held responsible when soldiers kill people? Are police chiefs held to same? Come on now, you cant be this naive? Iif you are saying yes to all this why arent you holding the dear junta boy responsible for the recent killings in the south? What about SUTHEP are you saying he gets a free pass also? If protesters were violent ( which they were) and they died during that violence then you know who is responsible? Yes you got it the protesters themselves. The military was performing their duties.

[DiamondKing]

Oh give me a break....you guys think he should be held personally responsible for the deaths? Do you guys live on planet earth? Are military leaders held responsible when soldiers kill people? Are police chiefs held to same? Come on now, you cant be this naive? Iif you are saying yes to all this why arent you holding the dear junta boy responsible for the recent killings in the south? What about SUTHEP are you saying he gets a free pass also? If protesters were violent ( which they were) and they died during that violence then you know who is responsible? Yes you got it the protesters themselves. The military was performing their duties.

They are holding YL personally responsible for the rice deal and this is exactly the same and yes he was the one i charge and therefore responsible and the one who ordered the open fire that killed 90 plus civilians

[arrowsdawdle]

Another one of these back dated impeachments ?. Some people do have to answer for the death of those protesters , not sure this is the right way

The people that prompted them to go and violently protest should answer for their deaths.

And you know very well who these people are.

I condemn their deaths and hope one day these red leaders will face justice.

What a distorted and aberrant fantasy.

[lewy67]

The vast majority of protesters were killed by soldiers. Who ordered these soldiers to slaughter their fellow Thais? Whoever it was should face justice regardless of all other factors.

[greenchair]

The vast majority of protesters were killed by soldiers. Who ordered these soldiers to slaughter their fellow Thais? Whoever it was should face justice regardless of all other factors.

Who is it again?? that has control of the soldiers ?

[max72]

Another one of these back dated impeachments ?. Some people do have to answer for the death of those protesters , not sure this is the right way

The people that prompted them to go and violently protest should answer for their deaths.

And you know very well who these people are.

I condemn their deaths and hope one day these red leaders will face justice.

Same thing for your heroes, the pluriassassins who took the airports and burnt taxi drivers alive because they tried to take stranded tourists to the airport.

[Sarathi]

Abhisit is being thrown under the bus.

That might be why he has been speaking out a bit more against the next Constitution.

[ExPratt]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Oh give me a break....you guys think he should be held personally responsible for the deaths? Do you guys live on planet earth? Are military leaders held responsible when soldiers kill people? Are police chiefs held to same? Come on now, you cant be this naive? Iif you are saying yes to all this why arent you holding the dear junta boy responsible for the recent killings in the south? What about SUTHEP are you saying he gets a free pass also? If protesters were violent ( which they were) and they died during that violence then you know who is responsible? Yes you got it the protesters themselves. The military was performing their duties.

What are you wittering on about no one said anything about Abhisit being held personally responsible , it a BS charge anyway. I'm sure he had a hand in it but I doubt he wanted those people killed , But going by Junta Rules he was PM at the time and its all on him , not my rules but the Juntas

Edited March 10, 2015 by ExPratt

[max72]

Oh give me a break....you guys think he should be held personally responsible for the deaths? Do you guys live on planet earth? Are military leaders held responsible when soldiers kill people? Are police chiefs held to same? Come on now, you cant be this naive? Iif you are saying yes to all this why arent you holding the dear junta boy responsible for the recent killings in the south? What about SUTHEP are you saying he gets a free pass also? If protesters were violent ( which they were) and they died during that violence then you know who is responsible? Yes you got it the protesters themselves. The military was performing their duties.

What about performing their duties against your heroes, the pluriassassins who killed dozens of people when the airports where taken , taxi drivers were burnt alive and people who tried to go to vote where beaten to death last year.

I bet you were celebrating on their deaths of those innocent people, including dozens of children who were sheltered inside a temple.

Edited March 10, 2015 by max72

[candide]

Oh give me a break....you guys think he should be held personally responsible for the deaths? Do you guys live on planet earth? Are military leaders held responsible when soldiers kill people? Are police chiefs held to same? Come on now, you cant be this naive? Iif you are saying yes to all this why arent you holding the dear junta boy responsible for the recent killings in the south? What about SUTHEP are you saying he gets a free pass also? If protesters were violent ( which they were) and they died during that violence then you know who is responsible? Yes you got it the protesters themselves. The military was performing their duties.

They are holding YL personally responsible for the rice deal and this is exactly the same and yes he was the one i charge and therefore responsible and the one who ordered the open fire that killed 90 plus civilians

The difference is that, instead of being judged by an assembly mainly composed of people from the opposite political side, such as was the case with YL, he will be judged by an assembly mainly composed of people from the same political side.

The similarity is that: it's all boring, we know the answer in advance just as with YL (I may be wrong, but I would be very surprised)

[Skywalker69]

Oh give me a break....you guys think he should be held personally responsible for the deaths? Do you guys live on planet earth? Are military leaders held responsible when soldiers kill people? Are police chiefs held to same? Come on now, you cant be this naive? Iif you are saying yes to all this why arent you holding the dear junta boy responsible for the recent killings in the south? What about SUTHEP are you saying he gets a free pass also? If protesters were violent ( which they were) and they died during that violence then you know who is responsible? Yes you got it the protesters themselves. The military was performing their duties.

What about performing their duties against your heroes, the pluriassassins who killed dozens of people when the airports where taken , taxi drivers were burnt alive and people who tried to go to vote where beaten to death last year.

I bet you were celebrating on their deaths of those innocent people, including dozens of children who were sheltered inside a temple.

including dozens of children who were sheltered inside a temple.

Give us a link!!!

[seajae]

Oh give me a break....you guys think he should be held personally responsible for the deaths? Do you guys live on planet earth? Are military leaders held responsible when soldiers kill people? Are police chiefs held to same? Come on now, you cant be this naive? Iif you are saying yes to all this why arent you holding the dear junta boy responsible for the recent killings in the south? What about SUTHEP are you saying he gets a free pass also? If protesters were violent ( which they were) and they died during that violence then you know who is responsible? Yes you got it the protesters themselves. The military was performing their duties.

They are holding YL personally responsible for the rice deal and this is exactly the same and yes he was the one i charge and therefore responsible and the one who ordered the open fire that killed 90 plus civilians

its nothing like the rice scam, red terrorists were shooting, throwing bombs and burning down Bangkok because the police were red supporters and refused to stop them, the govt had no other possibility but to send in troops to stop the terrorists who then started to shoot at the army who were there to defend the populace. YL was the leader of the govt and the person in charge of the rice scam, she was told it was corrupt and not working but ignored it, seems you red lovers will twist the truth about anything to suit your pathetic thinking and your darling puppet

[Baerboxer]

Oh give me a break....you guys think he should be held personally responsible for the deaths? Do you guys live on planet earth? Are military leaders held responsible when soldiers kill people? Are police chiefs held to same? Come on now, you cant be this naive? Iif you are saying yes to all this why arent you holding the dear junta boy responsible for the recent killings in the south? What about SUTHEP are you saying he gets a free pass also? If protesters were violent ( which they were) and they died during that violence then you know who is responsible? Yes you got it the protesters themselves. The military was performing their duties.

What about performing their duties against your heroes, the pluriassassins who killed dozens of people when the airports where taken , taxi drivers were burnt alive and people who tried to go to vote where beaten to death last year.

I bet you were celebrating on their deaths of those innocent people, including dozens of children who were sheltered inside a temple.

including dozens of children who were sheltered inside a temple.

Give us a link!!!

Don't hold your breath on that one!

Talk about furtive imagination!!

[Jai Dee]

One flame post and subsequent replies have been removed from this thread.

[Baerboxer]

Another one of these back dated impeachments ?. Some people do have to answer for the death of those protesters , not sure this is the right way

The people that prompted them to go and violently protest should answer for their deaths.

And you know very well who these people are.

I condemn their deaths and hope one day these red leaders will face justice.

What a distorted and aberrant fantasy.

A certain individual was whipping up the frenzy, inciting violence, refusing to negotiate and rejected an agreement made by his appointed "leaders" on the ground with the Abhisit government. Same individual has been accused of financing this insurgency in retaliation for a considerable amount of his assets being seized. Plenty of video evidence of his involvement although in reality he found it more acceptable to be luxury shopping in Paris than standing "shoulder to shoulder" as he promised. Far too cowardly to actually come back and lying is so much more convenient.

If you believe that person has no responsibility for the 2010 troubles and the chaos of the puppet PTP administration and aftermath then you are indeed living in a distorted fantasy.

[Fat Haggis]

If I told you to go and jump off a cliff baerboxer would you do it?

The human psyche is a complex think, David Koresh amongst others throughout history have been able to convince people to do things rhat defy logic, WE know they're wrong but they don't see it that way, a lot of red shirt lunatics are the human version of a lemming they just go and do the dumbest things without thinking.

Now then, let's deal with the biggest issue here, what's was the ROEs for that given period, and who issued them, who briefed up their men on the ground before their duties started ? Someone in khaki is responsible for these ROEs going South fast!! But they Again have given themselves amnesties and will never face prosecution.

There have been many high profile Courts Martials in the U.S. recently over the abuse of ROEs. A there's also lawsuits against Bkackwater in Iraq for the Firdos square incident.

Someone is responsible mate, maybe not Abhisit and I don't think suthep did himself any favours either last year by stating in court the Army were instructed to shoot below the knees or something like that.

Every day when I was the security manager on a project where we carried weapons, the locals were all made to read, for those that could, and verbally listen to the Rules in the Use of Force in Arabic and English, each and everyone of them also carried a copy of these on their person with no exceptions. Why's this relevant it's called covering your ass when it does go South!!

[Basil B]

Oh give me a break....you guys think he should be held personally responsible for the deaths? Do you guys live on planet earth? Are military leaders held responsible when soldiers kill people? Are police chiefs held to same? Come on now, you cant be this naive? Iif you are saying yes to all this why arent you holding the dear junta boy responsible for the recent killings in the south? What about SUTHEP are you saying he gets a free pass also? If protesters were violent ( which they were) and they died during that violence then you know who is responsible? Yes you got it the protesters themselves. The military was performing their duties.

I agree to a point with you, I am not sure there has been any official enquiry into why and what happened, possibly this is the best way that events of 2010 can be investigated, I am sure he would not be found guilty as it would implicate the army for carrying out his instructions if indeed he did instruct them shoot to kill anyone they wanted to.

[Godders]

Oh, dear! It must be just coincidence that only yesterday the normally coy Democrats' leader published a trenchant article attacking the new set-up.

[bassman]

No doubt the Shin clan were instigators in this tragic event. However in the national interest and to set precedence for future similar events the whole truth and nothing but the truth needs to be told and the population of Thailand should have no less. Hope the investigation is comprehensive and shows timelines and critical decisions made on behalf of all that led to this mass tragedy. In the absence of the truth being told will only lead to the next round of killings without responsibilities being assessed.

The hearing should be done on pubic television so the nation can see truth and transparency and prevent something similar to ever happening again. All key players should be subpoenaed and made to testify. And most unfortunately Thaksin will not show up but all his key players should as well as military commanders at all levels that were involved.

But alas the Thai folk will get a one liner spelling the results and books closed.

[yellowboat]

Another one of these back dated impeachments ?. Some people do have to answer for the death of those protesters , not sure this is the right way

The people that prompted them to go and violently protest should answer for their deaths.

And you know very well who these people are.

I condemn their deaths and hope one day these red leaders will face justice.

Bad things happened during all protests. Your one-sideness is as reliable as greek olives are tasty.

[Wilsonandson]

From what I saw of the bloody crackdown of 2010 the army and police were very calm and refrained from using violence as a last resort. The protesting outside high security military barracks, blocking major roads, pouring of blood on government house and the PMs house, huge motorcade of protests in the city center was tolerated with little violence except on April the 12th when the black shirts attacked soldiers. The police vehicle similar to a tank with caterpillar treads was only used to breakdown the obstacles used to fence off the last few harden protesters. Meanwhile many diplomatic pleas were made by the PM to solve the crisis. Don't think Abhisit did anything wrong except hid too much in the army barracks, that was cowardly.

[rubl]

I do believe Suthep has no desire to hold any political position in the next 5 years. He has been given the rewards of his protests already I am sure.

These charges do seem to come to the forefront just as abhisit is speaking out against the new constitution and all its facets.

So that's ptp out the way.

The Democrats out the way.

Nothing should get in the way of the master plan .

Don't worry people, Prayuth will take care of everything.

Tjeez, I have no problem with you disliking Abhisit or Suthep, but please make up your mind about charging.

If no charges were forthcoming you wouldn't be happy either.

Abhisit went to the OAG office twice, court ones to acknowledge charges. Now charged again. Was that with the Supreme Court for Political Office holders ? Seems the right way, but didn't the Yingluck RPPS issue show we first need impeachment and then a charge at the SCfPOH?

[Lite Beer]

Lawyers for Abhisit, Suthep report to NACC

Former prime minister AbhisitVejjajiva and former deputy prime minister SuthepThaugsuban on Tuesday assigned their lawyers to report to the National Anti-Corruption Commission to hear charges against them in connection with the crackdowns on United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protesters between April 1-May 19, 2010, causing more than 90 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Bundhit Siriphan and Rames Rattanachaweng, lawyers for Mr Abhisit, arrived first on Tuesday morning to hear the charges.

Mr Bundhit said his team of lawyers had prepared documents and evidence related to the crackdowns and believed they were solid enough to fight the charges.

Later in the afternoon, Taweesak Na Takuathung, the lawyer for Mr Suthep, who is currently in monkhood, arrived at the NACC head office to hear the charges against his client.

Mr Taweesak declined to comment on the case, saying only that he was still gathering evidence.

Both Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep are required to report to the NACC by themselves to defend themselves in 15 days after hearing the charges.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/lawyers-for-abhisit-suthep-report-to-nacc

-- Thai PBS 2015-03-10

[NeverSure]

its nothing like the rice scam, red terrorists were shooting, throwing bombs and burning down Bangkok because the police were red supporters and refused to stop them, the govt had no other possibility but to send in troops to stop the terrorists who then started to shoot at the army who were there to defend the populace. YL was the leader of the govt and the person in charge of the rice scam, she was told it was corrupt and not working but ignored it, seems you red lovers will twist the truth about anything to suit your pathetic thinking and your darling puppet

"...the govt had no other possibility but to send in troops to stop the terrorists..."

Do you really believe that "the government" controlled the army?

[djjamie]

Abhisit should be held responsible somewhat for the deaths. He was too tolerant and showed too much patience with the terrorists thus they became more and more brazen.

April 9th, 2010 was the first use of force by the military and it was with rubber bullets and water cannons.

The protests began on the 12th of March. So between then and the 9th of April when the red terrorists threatened to blow up an LPG truck, grenade attacks at Thai banks, attacked Thai charity with grenades, stormed parliament, attacked NPP and TPI buildings with M16 and grenades the military did nothing. NOTHING!

​In any country in the world the leader would not be able to get away with allowing the capital to be violently savaged without taking any action.

​The only saving grace is the Right Honorable Abhisit's heart was in the right place. His hesitation was because he wanted to try to settle this protest peacefully. Unfortunately the red shirts were having none of that.

So I do look forward to the proceedings of this impeachment as I do the accused terrorist red shirt leaders that lead innocent people to their deaths and then eagerly scoped those bodies up from the hospitals and paraded them on stage against their grieving families wishes. With Jatuporm all the while screaming over the microphone "The dark sky will turn red. Red like blood" and Nattawat telling supporters to bring petrol to Bangkok to burn down the place.

I hate terrorism. I hate it.

Edited March 10, 2015 by djjamie