Former attorney-general appointed to head panel investigating deadly protest

BANGKOK, June 8 (TNA) – The Thai Cabinet on Tuesday resolved to appoint respected former attorney-general Kanit Na Nakorn to head an independent probe of recent clashes between security forces and anti-government Red Shirt protesters, but the decision has sparked outcry from the Opposition which questions Mr Kanit’s impartiality.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said before attending the weekly Cabinet meeting that he would ask the Cabinet to appoint Mr Kanit to chair the fact finding investigation of the political unrest in the past several months.

The prime minister said Mr Kanit will select the committee members himself to conduct the probe, and the government will not interfere with the work of the committee.

The Cabinet also gave Mr Kanit 15 days to find his committee members.

Professor Kanit, 73, graduated law at Thammasat University and the Thai Bar Association before completing his doctorate in law in Germany. He is a
lecturer in the country’s renowned universities and is now the dean of Pridi Banomyong Faculty of Law at Dhurakit Pundit University.

The former attorney-general was also a member of the constitution drafting assembly in 1996.

Mr Kanit was once deputy leader of the now defunct Thai Rak Thai Party in 1998 but quit the party a few years later.

During the post-military coup government of Gen Surayud Chulanont, he was appointed as head of probe committee on the alleged extrajudicial killings of 2,500 people during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration’s war on drugs.

The setup of fact-finding committee came as at least 89 people were killed and nearly 1,200 were wounded during the clashes between security forces and protesters of the United Front for Democracy against dictatorship (UDD) which intensified their anti-government campaigns since March 14, with each side blaming the other for causing the rising casualties.

Most casualties occurred on April 10 at Ratchadamnoen Avenue’s Khok Wua intersection where an unidentified group of armed men fired grenades at both troops and the Red Shirts.

Other violent clashes occurred May 19 as troops sealed off the Red Shirt’s main rally site at Bangkok’s prime commercial area of Ratchaprasong,
followed by widespread arson and grenades attacks across the Thai capital after the surrender of the protest leaders.

The bodies of six dead persons were found at Pathumwanaram Temple, not far from Ratchaprasong intersection, which is a focus of controversy as doubt remains whether they were killed by the troops or the so-called black-clad ‘terrorists’.

The army, however, denied all accusations that their operation led to the rising deaths and injured, saying they were also attacked by armed people who they branded as “terrorists”.

As soon as Mr Kanit was named as the probe head, Opposition Puea Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said on Tuesday that the families of victims of the political unrest will go to party headquarters, demanding that the party oppose Mr Kanit’s appointment.

Mr Prompong claimed that Mr Kanit has close ties with some senior figures of the government although he once worked with the Thai Rak Thai Party.