BANGKOK: Seven officials will face trial over the deaths of scores of Muslim protesters who suffocated in army trucks almost two decades ago in Thailand’s deep south, a lawyer for the victims’ families said on Friday (Aug 23).
Known across the kingdom’s insurgency-scarred south as the “Tak Bai massacre”, the incident on Oct 25, 2004, remains one of the deadliest in a rebellion by Malay Muslims against the ruling Thai state, which colonised the provinces bordering Malaysia over a century ago.
Seventy-eight people suffocated after they were arrested and stacked on top of each other in the back of Thai military trucks.
The officials will also face trial over the deaths of seven others who were shot as security forces used live rounds on a large crowd of protesters calling for the release of several detainees.
Narathiwat court in the south accepted on Friday a petition submitted by the victims’ families seeking to prosecute seven officials for murder and attempted murder, Ratchada Manuratchada, the lawyer representing the families, told reporters.
The decision comes two months before the statute of limitations on the case is due to expire – 20 years after the deaths.
“The court has agreed to take the case to trial,” Ratchada said after the court decision.
“This is a historic case in our country which will decide if authorities treated civilians appropriately.”
