Police have confirmed five of the six people killed at Wat Pathum Wanaram during the crackdown on red shirts on May 19, 2010 were shot with bullets normally used by military forces.
Testifying before the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court, Pol Col Suebsak Phansura, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's division 6, yesterday said the bullets were .223 calibre, which are used with M16 and Tavor rifles, which are for military use. All of the victims were shot from an elevated spot, he said.
The six people killed were Suwan Sriraksa, 30, a farmer; Atthachai Chumchan, 28, a law school graduate; Mongkol Khemthong, 36, a rescue worker; Rop Suksathit, 66, a hired driver; Kamonkade Akkahad, 25, a volunteer nurse; and Akkharadej Khankaew, 22, a hired hand.
Pol Col Suebsak, who heads the investigating team looking into the deaths, said the six victims and other red-shirt demonstrators had gathered at the temple to wait for transport home, while soldiers from two units were guarding the Siam Paragon department store and the Siam skytrain station.
While queueing up to use a temple toilet, Suwan was shot and died at the scene, while Atthachai was gunned down while crossing the road to the temple. Shortly afterwards, Rop and Mongkol, both standing in front of the temple entrance, were shot.
Kamonkade and Akkharadej were shot while trying to flee, said the officer. The bodies of the six civilians were later sent for autopsies.
Pol Col Suebsak said his investigators had summoned experts to help examine the direction of the bullets and they found that five of the killed, except Atthachai, had been shot by .223 calibre bullets that were fired from elevated positions to ground level.
His team had interrogated soldiers based at the skytrain station who claimed men in black had fired at them from the ground up toward the skytrain track. But ballistic tests showed no bullets had been fired from ground level, he said.
In a separate hearing yesterday, the wife of a taxi driver slain on May 15, 2010, told the court that former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban, and former army commander Gen Anupong Paojinda must be held responsible for his death. Charnarong Polsila, 45, was shot dead on Ratchaprarop Road.
Suriyan Polsila, 47, Charnarong's wife, told the court that her husband was merely a protester.
Mr Abhisit declared the Emergency Decree on April 7, 2010 and then appointed Mr Suthep director of the Centre for Restoration of Emergency Situations and Gen Anupong as deputy director. Mrs Suriyan said this made them responsible for her husband's death.
Mr Suthep took charge of the area to reclaim operations against the red-shirt protest and Gen Anupong directly issued the crackdown order to the military, which resulted in 91 deaths.
"They have never expressed any regret to my family or showed any responsibility since his death," Mrs Suriyan said.
Siriporn Ruangsinoon, 52, a legal representative for Mrs Suriyan and her two daughters, said the Abhisit government's operations were not in line with international standards which should start with a soft approach, including warnings, and gradually increase to hard measures.
Nick Nostitz, a German freelance journalist and a witness for the plaintiffs, told the court that on May 15, 2010, he met Charnarong and took his photo just a minute before he was shot.
Mr Nostitz said the injured Charnarong tried to crawl from the scene to hide at a petrol station with help from two other individuals. When the soldiers moved to the petrol station, Mr Nostitz said he told them to help Charnarong. He heard them call an ambulance.
Thilo Thielke, a Der Spiegel journalist, 44, told the court that he saw Charnarong get shot but he didn't see who shot him.
Minutes after he took the photos of the protesters, he managed to take photos of Charnarong being shot.
The next hearing is on Monday. There will be 32 more hearings, with 17 prosecution witnesses and 15 from the damaged parties.