Victim's kin challenge unity efforts   Source BangkokPost.com

The younger brother of a volunteer nurse killed during the dispersal of protesters at Wat Pathum Wanaram in May 2010 has attacked Thaksin Shinawatra's call for red shirts to sacrifice themselves for national reconciliation.
The ousted leader should not muddle the process of justice in the cases of victims of political violence with his own political problems, said Natthapat Akhad. During an April 15 speech to supporters in Siem Reap, in Cambodia, Thaksin said some red shirts might have to make sacrifices along the road to reconciliation. The younger brother of Kamolkate Akhad, the nurse who was shot dead in Wat Pathum Wanaram on May 19, 2010, questioned who would actually benefit from reconciliation.
"Right now, have politicians given priority to the public interest? I oppose reconciliation because all the political violence occurred because of politicians. They have used people as their tools," he said. "Eventually, these politicians will reconcile. Then what about the people who fought alongside them?" Mr Natthapat insisted he totally disagreed with the national reconciliation process currently being pushed for by members of the ruling Pheu Thai Party. "Thaksin said some of the red shirts had to commit sacrifices. It's not right. Having sacrificed one person in my family is already too much," he said. Mr Natthapat wants to see true reconciliation in which families of those killed during the violence are granted justice and wrongdoers are punished. Only then can an amnesty be discussed. At present the process to ensure justice has been overlooked and all concerned were trying to push for an amnesty that might benefit Thaksin, he said. Mr Natthapat said all his family members would try in every way to oppose the amnesty law.

Red lawyers seek to push back payouts Victims, families say govt used them to win power. Source:BangkokPost.com

Red shirt victims of the 2010 political violence are decrying a move by their own lawyers to postpone their compensation settlements by six months. The lawyers were hired by the 111 Thai Rak Thai Foundation to represent the victims and their families. The Civil Court set March 30 to settle the damage and reparation lawsuits filed against the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration and Finance Ministry by injured United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship supporters and relatives of the dead. However, their lawyers have asked for the case to be put back to September. Tanyakamol Kamnoi, who lost her younger brother Kriangkrai Kamnoi in the April 10, 2010, clash between protesters and security officers at Kok Wua intersection in Bangkok, said: "It's already been two years without progress on either establishing the facts of my brother's death or the compensation. "Sometimes I feel hurt, thinking that the government just stepped over their corpses to obtain power."

BANGKOK 2010 Written by Fabio Polenghi.  Bangkok, 13 May, 2010

In an afternoon of intense heat on the bridge at the intersection of Makkharan with Ratchadamoen, in front of the United Nations building, like helpless sacrificial lambs, hundreds of red shirts overlapping and crammed into a sit-in evacuation from their main protest site, Phan Fa bridge. Before them, thousands of army troops and riot police. Similarly, behind them, tens of thousands of other red shirts. Having advanced so far, without encountering any resistance, the soldiers probably thought that at the first tear gas the protesters would have scattered and in fact, after the launch, there are still a few there mostly laying on the ground, coughing, retching and with eyes and skin burning. Instead, once past the bridge, the soldiers find themselves targeted by an angry crowd that throws everything they can get their hands on: eggs, water bottles, plastic, wood, the army’s own tear gas canisters. The escalation is rapid, the officers cannot prevent it: no more rubber bullets fired into the air, those blanks replaced with real ones. On the other side, from stones to Molotovs. True urban warfare. In a few hours twenty dead and over eight hundred wounded, those who made it to the hospitals.
This was the event that radicalized the Red Shirt protests against the government. Until then, the protesters had been peaceful and the police calm.

Read Italian version:

Thailandia, ufficiali governativi hanno ucciso Fabio Polenghi.

La Metropolitan Police Bureau ha concluso che la morte del fotografo italiano Fabio Polenghi, durante le proteste delle camicie rosse di due anni fa è stata causata dalle azioni di funzionari governativi. Il Pol Maj Gen Anuchai Lekbamrung, che dirige l'inchiesta, ha detto che ci sono forti evidenze che la morte di Fabio Polenghi è stata causata dalle autorità statali. Il fotografo italiano è morto il 19 maggio 2010 durante gli scontri tra manifestanti delle camicie rosse e le forze di sicurezza governative sulla Ratchadamri Rd. a Bangkok.Il Generale ha detto che più di 10 testimoni sono stati interrogati e gli investigatori sono in attesa del un rapporto balistico per chiudere l'inchiesta. Sua sorella Elisabetta Polenghi aveva chiesto sulla morte di suo fratello da una nuova inchiesta. Il Pol Maj Gen Anuchai, commissario deputato della MPB, ha detto che il caso verrà inoltrato alla Procura all'inizio del mese prossimo per perseguire i responsabili.

Police say govt at fault over death of Italian photographer.

The Metropolitan Police Bureau has concluded that the death of an Italian photographer during red shirt protests nearly two years ago resulted from the actions of government officials. Pol Maj Gen Anuchai Lekbamrung, who heads the investigation, said evidence is strong that the death of Fabio Polenghi was caused by state authorities. He said more than 10 witnesses have been questioned and investigators are waiting for a ballistics report to close the inquiry. The Italian photographer died on May 19, 2010 during clashes between red shirt protesters and security forces on Ratchadamri Road. His sister Elisabetta Polenghi had demanded her brother's death be re-investigated. Pol Maj Gen Anuchai, a MPB deputy commissioner, said the case will be forwarded to prosecutors early next month.

THAILANDIA: Le vittime delle violenze saranno risarcite.
Il primo ministro thailandese Yingluck Shinawatra, prima della sua partenza per il Giappone, ha dichiarato che il governo ha approvato una fonte di spesa, di circa 65 milioni di dollari, per il risarcimento verso chi è stato vittima della violenza dal 2005 al 2010, in relazione alla cacciata del ex premier Thaksin Shinawatra nel settembre 2006. Ricordiamo che tra le vittime degli incidenti ci sta il nostro compianto Fabio Polenghi, ucciso con un proiettile alle spalle mentre, durante l’avanzata dell’esercito, correva verso le postazioni delle magliette rosse. Un’altra vittima è il cameraman giapponese della Reuter, Muramoto oltre a vari giornalisti thailandesi ed occidentali rimasti feriti. Secondo testimonianza non confermate, ci sarebbe stato un ordine tra i militari di usare come obbiettivo i giornalisti e uomini dei media.

Le famiglie delle cento persone uccise riceveranno 250 mila dollari, mentre le oltre 2000 rimaste ferite riceveranno 150 mila dollari.
Nelson Rand, giornalista canadese che lavorava per una stazione francese quando fu colpito da un proiettile dei militari, saluta positivamente la mossa: “Credo che sia un passo positivo preso dal governo che ha incluso entrambi gli schieramenti della divisione politica del paese, e mostra la sincerità del governo nel fare un passo in avanti e nel provare a raggiungere una rconciliazione nazionale.”
Chaiwat Pumpuang, un fotografo del giornale thailandese The Nation colpito nel maggio 2010 dai militari, ha detto che la compensazione finanziaria è inadeguata, considerato che i soli costi di due anni di ospedali hanno raggiunto i 67 mila dollari, che non si è ripreso del tutto dall’operazione di gennaio e che non può ancora lavorare oppure fare delle semplici cose che usava fare.
“Mentre apprezzo l’aiuto finanziario, preferirei che il governo fosse venuto a parlare con noi che siamo rimasti colpiti. Chiedeteci come possiamo essere di aiuto. Il vecchio ed il nuovo governo non sono mai venuti da me.”
Source: Terresottovento