The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) should not jump the gun and conclude that the death of 11 red-shirt protesters was the work of government forces, because this should be decided by the court, army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Monday.
Gen Prayuth was referring to the DSI's claim that there was credible evidence to believe that 11 of the red-shirt protesters who lost their lives during the political protests in 2010 were killed by government forces.
He said the DSI should not have rushed to make such a conclusion.
The army chief said he himself would not say who was right or who wrong. All sides should wait for the courts to make a decision, based on the evidence on hand.
The army is responsible for protecting its reputation and taking care of its personnel who performed their duty as ordered, Gen Prayuth said.