You can get away with murder

As expected, it is reported that the “Appeals Court on Wednesday upheld the Criminal Court’s rejection of a case against former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his former deputy Suthep Thaugsuban for the deadly military crackdown on red-shirt protesters in 2010.”

In August 2014 the Criminal Court dismissed the case “in which Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep were charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the 2010 military crackdown on the red-shirt protesters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).”

The court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction over the case, saying it should be before the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions and the prosecution appealed.

In fact, the case is never going to get to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions as the National Anti-Corruption Commission has already ruled in favor of Abhisit and Suthep.

The Appeals Court decided that Abhisit and Suthep issued the crackdown order in their capacities as “prime minister and deputy prime minister in charge of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), not as individuals.”

It also agreed with the lower court that the Department of Special Investigation had no authority to investigate the case and that it should have been the NACC investigating. As we noted above, the NACC has already dumped the case.

Abhisit worried that the case was not yet final as the prosecution might take it to the Supreme Court. We can’t think why they would do that. The case is dead. The families of the people killed still wait for justice.