We wil help red-shirt detainees to get bail : PM

[Coss]

Justice Ministry asked to assist 50 without lawyers, Abhisit says

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has pledged to continue filing bail applications for some 40 to 50 individuals unwittingly involved in the red-shirt riots following his intervention to secure the temporary release of three such individuals last week.

 

“Although everyone is equal under the law, some underprivileged people could not get legal representation,†he said, in his weekly address yesterday.

 

Abhisit said a National Human Rights Commission report had informed him that some 50 individuals out of about 180 people detained after the unruly protests had no legal counsel or assistance.

 

He said he instructed the Justice Ministry to make legal assistance available to these individuals.

 

He highlighted his intervention as part of the reconciliation process. He urged those freed from remand to strictly observe their bail conditions, reminding them that their good behaviour would pave the way for the release of those still held in detention.

 

Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the main opposition party doubted the government was sincere in regard to efforts to bring about reconciliation.

 

Six months had passed but there was no progress on the investigation into the crackdown which caused 91 deaths, he said, adding that the murder of Khattiya “Seh Daeng†Sawasdipol remained unsolved.

 

He called on the PM to prod the Department of Special Investigation to try and shed light on the bloodshed instead of “buying timeâ€Â.

 

In a related development, fugitive ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra issued a statement calling on the government to release “political prisoners†" likening the jailing of red-shirts in Thailand to the situation in Burma, where pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Yi was freed on Saturday. Thaksin’s statement was released by his legal adviser Noppadon Patama.

 

Thaksin’s remarks drew a rebuke from Democrat MP Thepthai Senpong, who said he admired Suu Kyi because she always fought for democracy through peaceful means.

 

“Thaksin should look to Suu Kyi as a role model because unlike someone, she tried to bring about peaceful change without burning down her own country,†he said.

 

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