Thailand’s highest court yesterday acquitted two former Thai prime ministers and two former top police officers over their roles in a 2008 crackdown on anti-government protesters that killed two people.
Former Thai prime minister Somchai Wongsawat and his then-deputy Chavalit Yongchaiyudh faced negligence charges over a police operation to remove protesters who had laid siege to parliament.
The incident was one of many violent flare-ups over the past decade between their political camp, a populist movement led by former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and a Bangkok-based establishment.
Photo: EPA
Police fought pitched battles with demonstrators, who used homemade bombs, and fired multiple rounds of tear gas. Two died and hundreds were wounded.
After the military seized power in 2014, authorities put the four men on trial.
However, in its ruling yesterday nine judges dismissed the case, saying that authorities had a responsibility to clear the protesters because they had not remained peaceful and that none of the defendants bore direct responsibility for the deaths.
“The protesters surrounded parliament and threatened to storm the building, therefore it was not a peaceful rally. The authorities had to use force in order to clear the way,” the court said in its summary. “The court has dismissed the case.”
Somchai and Chavalit hail from the political faction loyal to Shinawatra, the self-exiled billionaire tycoon at the heart of Thailand’s festering political divide.
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