• 
• 

The court found Rangsan guilty of collaborating with three other defendants to hire gunmen to kill Praman.

The trial dragged on for 15 years. Praman, the target of the assassination attempt, died of natural causes in February this year.

Rangsan will appeal against the ruling. He was released on bail after the court read the verdict. About a month after his arrest 15 years ago, Rangsan was also released on bail.

The three other defendants are Somporn Dechanuparp, Nane Mahawilai and Apichit Angsutharangkul.

Public prosecutors filed charges against the four in the court on July 16 1993.

Rangsan was alleged with hiring Apichit to solicit gunmen to kill Praman, then Supreme Court president.

Apichit in turn contacted Somporn and Nane to hire two gunmen. The two gunmen later alerted police and police arrested the four defendants.

During investigations, Somporn and Nane confessed to having hired the gunmen to kill Praman. But the reversed their testimonies during the trial.

The Sought Bangkok District Court initially sentenced the four defendants to death for planning to kill the head of the judiciary.

But the court commuted penalty for Somporn and Nane to 16 years and eight months in jail each on ground that the two had confessed during the investigations.

The court also commuted the penalty for Apichit and Rangsan to 25 years in jail on ground that the assassination had not yet taken place.