Bangkok bomb trial of Chinese Uighurs begins after delays

 

BANGKOK: -- The trial of two Chinese ethnic Uighur men suspected of carrying out a deadly bomb attack in Bangkok in 2015 began on Tuesday after three postponements due to defence lawyers being unable to find suitable interpreters for their clients.

 

Fourteen foreigners were among 20 people killed in the Aug. 17, 2015, bombing at Bangkok's Erawan Shrine, the worst attack of its kind on Thai soil.

 

Yusufu Mieraili and Adem Karadag, also known as Bilal Mohammed, appeared at a military court in Bangkok dressed in brown prison uniforms. They face 10 charges, including murder and illegal possession of explosives.

 

Full story: http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-thailand-blast-idUKKBN13A0FN

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2016-11-15

So they got 2 of the bombers but there were many more iirc. Also Thai helped them throwing the bomb from a bridge on a pier/boat.

 

The police went to malaysia to arrest some of them, did they finally get them or are these 2 men arrested there?

Edited November 15, 20169 yr by fruitman

Trial of Bangkok bomb suspects starts after translator row 
NATNICHA CHUWIRUCH
TASSANEE VEJPONGSA

 

BANGKOK (AP) — Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of two men accused of carrying out a bombing at a Bangkok landmark last year that killed 20 people, after a dispute over the defendants' translators had delayed the proceedings.

 

Mieraili Yusufu and Bilal Mohammad, Chinese nationals from the Muslim Uighur minority, have pleaded not guilty in the Aug. 17, 2015, bombing of the Erawan shrine, which is popular among Chinese and other tourists. Fourteen of the dead were tourists, and many Chinese were among the 120 people injured.

 

The first witness, a police officer, began testifying after the court overruled defense objections that two translators provided by the Chinese Embassy might be prejudiced against the defendants. The defense argued that China does not respect Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs), but the court said there was no evidence that the translators would be biased.

 

Three observers from the Chinese Embassy attended the trial, which is being held in a military court. Since a May 2014 army coup toppled Thailand's government, military courts have handled criminal cases deemed to involve national security.

 

The charges against the defendants include conspiracy to explode bombs and commit premeditated murder.

 

"I saw many people with serious injuries and many dead. The shrine itself was damaged," testified Lt. Col. Somkiat Ploytubtim, who was part of the police investigation team.

 

Thai authorities say a people-smuggling gang whose activities were disrupted by a crackdown carried out the bombing as revenge. However, some analysts suspected it might have been the work of Uighur separatists angry that in July 2015, Thailand forcibly repatriated scores of Uighurs to China, where they may be persecuted.

 

The start of the trial had been aborted several times, largely because of a failure to find capable translators.

 

The court said it would accept the defense attorney's letter of objection and consider it separately, but noted that the defendants failed to object earlier when the court notified them of their intention to contact the Chinese Embassy for a translator. It characterized their objections Tuesday as an effort to stall the proceedings.

 

The defendants are the only two suspects in custody out of the 17 people that authorities say were responsible for the bombing, one of the deadliest acts of violence in Bangkok in decades. Some of the 15 other suspects are Turks, with whom Uighurs share ethnic bonds. Beijing charges that some Uighurs are Islamist terrorists and that some have been smuggled out of China to join Islamic State fighters in Syria via Turkey.

 

Police say the case against the two men is supported by closed-circuit television footage, witnesses, DNA matching and physical evidence, in addition to their confessions. Police believe Yusufu detonated the bomb minutes after a backpack containing the device was left at the shrine by Bilal, also known as Adem Karadag.

 

However, the two defendants have said they were tortured in custody to confess, a charge rejected by the court.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-11-15

I guess they're looking for a translator who can translate the word "scapegoat" into Uighur tongue.  These guys were just caught in the set of flats of the Uighur smugglers.  The bomb maker, planner and actual agents were long gone before RTP even got out of their compound to go down the street and look at the Erawan Shrine.

Edited November 15, 20169 yr by zaphod reborn

I thought for a minute why bother with a trial at all? Why not just declare them guilty and throw the book at them? 

Then I remembered the RTP receiving big fat wads of money as a reward.

So a mock trial and a "guilty" finding is needed to formally justify the reward. Done and dusted.

Heck they have been in custody so long they could have taught them decent level of Thai language....

Or taught that Rohingya rotiboy some Uighur-speak.

Two possibles out of 17 possibles,   Not bad!  Pleasing to note that everything is under control, as claimed elsewhere,