Panitan to testify before DSI soon

Panitan to testify before DSI soon

Panitan Wattanayagorn, former deputy secretary-general of political affairs for ex-premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, on Thursday deferred his appointment with the Department of Special Investigation for his role in the April-May 2010 bloody crackdown until Sept 24.

The associate professor of Chulalongkorn University's faculty of political science said he had submitted a letter asking to postpone a meeting with Pol Col Prawet Moolpramuk, deputy chief of the DSI, because the faculty was holding  examinations for its students.

Mr Panitan said the DSI wanted to ask him about detailed information on how he performed his duties when he served as Mr Abhisit’s deputy secretary-general and deputy spokesman of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), which oversaw military operations against the red-shirt protesters. The agency also wanted to know where he obtained information used during the CRES’s operations. 

The agency will also invite army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd, who then served as CRES’s spokesman, to appear before the inquiry, Mr Panitan added.

The lecturer said if the DSI investigated the case relating to the 2010 political violence in a straightforward manner, without discrimination, not only will the people benefit, but also present and past governments.

It would show what happened and who should be accountable for the crimes committed, especially whether  procedures had been carried out according to the rule of law when soldiers were ordered to retake the red-shirt main protest site in the Ratchaprasong business area.

Apart from those people the DSI called to the inquiry, said Mr Panitan, Tarit Pengdit, the agency’s chief, was also the individual who could give the best answer to the above questions.

Revealing all information behind the riots would clear doubts and bring about justice to both sides, Mr Panitan said.          

Panitan spoke during an interview with Agence France-Presse at the Thai embassy in Washington, DC, February 2, 2011, in his capacity as Mr Abhisit's special envoy. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad


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