Relatives file police complaints

Relatives of the six people shot dead in Wat Pathum Wanaram on May 19 have filed police complaints accusing PM Abhisit Vejjajiva of premeditated murder.

Meanwhile, the head of the Erawan Centre confirmed 87 people died during last month's violent street clashes and denied the Pheu Thai Party's allegation that bodies had been buried to cover up the true figures.

Pheu Thai spokesperson Prompong Nopparit yesterday took the relatives to file murder charges against Abhisit, Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban, General Anupong Paochinda and high-ranking officials supervising the troops at the time. They also submitted video clips and photos taken in the temple.

Prompong urged the police not to forward these complaints to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), because it had made no progress on the protesters' deaths at Khok Wua intersection on April 10.

Police accepted the complaints along with the plaintiffs' testimonies and will submit them to their supervisors for further action.

One of the plaintiffs is Phayao Athart, mother of Kamonkate, a 25-year-old volunteer nurse who was killed during the riot. She said her daughter, who had been volunteering since she was in high school, had been asked to help demonstrators injured during last year's Songkran protests.

She said she had agreed to let her daughter help out this time, because she did not think there would be any harm. However, she started getting worried when she completely lost contact with Kamonkate on May 19, due to mobile-phone signals being cut off. Then rescue workers called to say her daughter was dead.

Phayao said news reports that Kamonkate had been shot only twice were not true, because autopsy results showed her body had sustained 10 gunshot wounds.

A soldier-turned-food-vendor and demonstrator, who identified himself only as Narongsak, said at 6pm on May 19 he was preparing food and water for fellow demonstrators inside the temple when he was shot four times in the leg, stomach and chest.

He said if it were not for a Buddha medallion he wore, the bullet to his chest might have killed him.

Narongsak said that as he crawled behind a 10-wheel lorry, he noticed many injured people - including a foreigner, who was later identified as a Belgian journalist.

He said people nearby provided him with first aid before sending him to Ramathibodi Hospital.

Narongsak's son, Saknarin, joined the demonstration with his father on May 16 and stayed in the temple to prepare food and water for demonstrators. In the evening of May 19, he saw five soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms and pink stickers on their helmets shooting into the temple compound from the Skytrain track.

He said he ran to the temple's wooded area for cover and emerged the next morning to see people gathered around the six shot dead.

Forensic Science Institute director Pornthip Rojanasunand yesterday said she would do her best to investigate the six dead bodies found in the temple and urged all sides to calm down. She said the investigation was difficult, because of the different groups slinging mud at each other.

Pornthip said the autopsy report found the bullets had come from higher ground. However, she said her inspection also found that some people were shot from below - such as the woman who had a bullet wound running from her waist to the base of her skull. It is suspected that victim may have been bending over or crouching at the time, prompting them to check the possible bullet direction.

Pornthip said she did not want to come to any conclusions until there was a thorough investigation of the scene and detailed autopsy results. So far, Pornthip's team has matched four victims to spots at the scene, while the other two remain unknown. Witnesses will be interviewed to determine this information later.

Erawan Centre chief Petchpong Kumjornkijjakarn said as of 9am yesterday morning, the number of deaths from all clashes stood at 87.

He said death certificates had been issued for all bodies, while the unnamed bodies with no known relatives were in the care of hospitals that had performed autopsies or with the rescue unit. Bodies can be transported only when authorised, so there was no cover-up.

Petchpong's comments came in response to comments by the Pheu Thai Party MP for Yasothon, Peerapan Palusuk, that at least 89 people were killed, and bodies were buried upcountry to cover up the true figure.

Meanwhile, the Mirror Foun-dation yesterday revealed it had received reports of 58 people missing during the clashes.

Of the 58 missing, 18 have been found, and only one of them was a red-shirt protester.

Most of those found apparently joined the protest, but because they were afraid of being arrested, they decided not to go home. Others contacted their relatives. Only two have been released on bail from Bangkok Remand Prison, the foundation said.

Of the 40 people still missing, 18 have been confirmed by personal documents to be involved with the red-shirt protest.