Human Rights Watch has identified that the military dictatorship is still trying to “cover-up abuses committed by soldiers during the 2010 political violence and prosecute all sides responsible for rights violations…”.
No one expected that the military would ever do anything else, so we are a bit puzzled by the HRW announcement. After all, the military never admits its corporate guilt. From the very time of the murderous events of 2010, the military brass, including the current self-appointed premier, have done nothing but lie, obfuscate and cover up.
Nothing is particularly new now. These liars are simply repeating the lies!
The events that seem to have motivated the new concern from HRW is media reports that “soldiers have claimed in the long delayed investigation by the Justice Ministry’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) that rubber bullets were chiefly used during the crackdown on street protests in 2010.” PPT commented previously on such fabrications.
As HRW notes, this claim “first became public when the DSI questioned military snipers in August 2012.”
Snipers don’t use rubber bullets, and as HRW points out that “[o]verwhelming evidence, including post mortems uncovering high velocity bullets, concluded that civilians were struck by live ammunition.”
HRW states:
For the army to pretend the many people who had bullets pulled out of their bodies were hit only by rubber bullets is a preposterous attempt at rewriting history…. Despite overwhelming evidence that soldiers used excessive and unnecessary lethal force against protesters and others, to date not a single soldier has been held accountable for deaths or injuries during the crackdown.
In fact, in September 2012, the DSI had determined that the “military was culpable for 36 deaths.” Now the military dictatorship seems to be managing the DSI in order to cover up that culpability. HRW concludes:
The prospects for justice for victims of the 2010 violence appear bleaker than ever under the ruling military junta, the National Council for Peace and Order. The junta leader, Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, has said on many occasions that soldiers should not be condemned for the casualties during the 2010 political violence.
The junta clearly is not serious about using justice as a foundation for the rule of law or political reconciliation…. No one responsible for serious abuses during the 2010 violence – including soldiers and their commanders – should be allowed to escape from criminal accountability.
This will fall on deaf ears. The men running the country are responsible for many of the 2010 deaths. They ordered their men to murder.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 