Tarit Pengdith, director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), insists his agency is not persecuting the Democrat Party.
Tarit: Agency following rule of law
He said the DSI is adhering to the rule of law while handling cases against key opposition leaders in connection with the deaths during the 2010 protests.
Mr Tarit held a press conference yesterday in response to criticism that his agency unfairly intended to press premeditated murder charges against Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and Democrat MP Suthep Thaugsuban.
The two leaders could be indicted for issuing orders that led to the killing of Phan Khamkong, 43, a taxi driver in Bangkok, during political unrest in May 2010. Mr Abhisit was prime minister and Mr Suthep deputy premier and in charge of the Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) at the time.
Mr Tarit said both the government at the time and the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) should be held responsible for the 2010 violence.
He said the DSI had already taken legal action against hardcore red-shirt protesters. There are 213 legal cases against red shirts, including 64 cases of terrorism and sabotage and 62 cases of arson, while 259 people on the UDD side have been arrested and prosecuted.
Mr Tarit said it is now time for legal cases against those who were in power during the protests, after the Criminal Court ruled this week that the military killed Phan while following CRES orders.
Mr Tarit said that during the tenure of the Abhisit administration, he reported to the former premier that people had been killed as a result of the actions of government officials. Mr Abhisit had agreed the courts should try such cases.
He said the investigation later found that 36 people had been killed by government officials during the protests.
Mr Tarit said that as investigations into the deaths came under the jurisdiction of the DSI, the agency was duty-bound to take the necessary legal action.
"The responsibility falls on those who issued CRES orders, and this is a fair pursuit that falls within the process of the justice system," he said.
"Those who were in charge in the government have to take responsibility as well. Why am I accused of persecuting the Democrats?"
He referred to remarks by the Truth for Reconciliation Commission saying that the CRES failed to closely monitor the political unrest and those who committed criminal offences had to be duly punished.
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung stressed yesterday that those who had issued CRES orders would have to be held responsible but the officials who had followed the orders would not.