Thailand: Preliminary court date set in case of slain photographer Fabio Polenghi
Eyewitnesses have come forward in the case of slain Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi, his sister said today, ensuring that his case will be heard before Thai courts.
On May 19, 2010, during street violence which would claim some 91 lives, the freelance photographer was killed as he ran to escape live rounds fire.
His sister, Elisabetta Polenghi, has campaigned strongly that his case be heard before Thai courts and for more evidence to be released by the local Thai authorities.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled to be heard on July 23.
Speaking via an interpreter with regards to these new developments, Elisabetta would note:
"Police were able to get some eyewitnesses to make a statement, and with the information collected from them, the Public Prosecutor thought it was enough to information to start an official investigation… This is the first step in the process. Once the investigation ends up with a responsible party, there will be also be a Criminal Court process.
We don’t have the man who killed Fabio. We don’t have this kind of evidence, but until now we have general witnesses that can say, at that moment, the army were shooting… We haven’t identified the shooter, but we have elements to think that the shooting came from the Army side.
I need to talk to the police and lawyers to understand the situation, the point of the enquiry. From Italy it is very difficult to understand what’s really happening. I have information about what happened to Fabio… So sometimes I feel I need to come to Thailand and speak so the leader of enquiry knows exactly the ‘real point.’"
She suggested that the 2011 election of the Yingluck Government may have encouraged more witnesses to come forward.
“Maybe because the government has changed, the people are feeling more comfortable in talking to the police,” says Elisabetta. ”Maybe they feel more safe… But the public, who may not have felt they didn’t want to speak out when there wasn’t a red-shirt government. There’s a different energy now.”
Despite this, Elisabetta feels that ”the shift in government, didn’t actually translate into any difference,” not least for her personally. ”Not in the way of working, of those people who are investigating.” She notes that:
"Fabio’s camera is still missing. We’ve been looking for the man who took it… But he’s not been identified.
What appears from some footage of Fabio right after he got shot, was that… an unidentified man came and took his camera away. No one has been able to identify this man, and we’re looking for the camera to be returned, and why the camera was taken from Fabio, right after he got shot."
The lengthy wait for proceedings to begin has taken its toll on Elisabetta.
"I talk only for myself – my family is very large, and every one of us have our own need… But from my side, the first time I came here, I felt it was a kind of nightmare. It is critical I come back, again and again. I think we all need to know the truth – this is the main thing. I need to know if Fabio was shot by the Army, we all have to know it… Nothing else.
Even for journalists, I’m trying to encourage a situation that is safer for them.
I wonder, every time I come here. ‘When will it be finished?’ It is not up to me. I don’t know how long I can go on… because, it’s turned me, every time, upside down. Each time it is very big emotional shock for me."
Elisabetta describes her brother as a man who “loved his job… He was a very curious person. His best side was that he was a peaceful person… (who) loved to know different cultures – he was open-minded like that.”
"I think he was a photographer, a professional, and was well-prepared to cover these things. He was a person who got into these things, not only to get a ‘nice picture’, but to understand what was happening in these places.
He was a freelancer, and this was one of the things I liked about him. He kept open the possibilities, to be free on his job. But that’s why he was shot, because he chose to stay ‘on the other side’. Because he thought that on the other side, that’s where they were violating human rights."
A small memorial will be held on Ratchadamri, at the spot where Fabio was killed, this Saturday at 10:30am.
Lisa Gardner is a freelance journalist based in Bangkok. Follow her on Twitter @leesebkk
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I hope things change and that
I hope things change and that Elisabetta finds out - all of us find out the truth.
But I fear we will all have to wait until a party that is really for the Thai people, and not exclusively for themselves and the 'elite', is elected to replace this one.
Yingluck is presently in Bahrain, cutting business deals with the Butchers who killed the "red shirts" there.
At least she's consistent.
Good point JFL - Yingluck IS
Good point JFL - Yingluck IS in Bahrain consorting with a government accused of brutally suppressing "people power." Ironic and hypocritical.
And try as Thida does to give plausible deniability and a wide berth between the red shirts and both Thaksin and PTP, Thaksin's phone in last night at a rally Thida herself was presiding over really shows what a racket this whole thing is.
Now I have said it once, and I have said it a million times - people need to dump the politics, dump the colored shirts, dump the demagogic rabble rousers, and start pursuing pragmatic solutions to real problems - like pitiful education, poor infrastructure, and economic woes- all of which can be tackled with collaboration, technology, and innovation.
If people became independent economically, were well educated, and engaged in their own businesses and cultivating a strong local economy, all the "political" issues and "rights issues" would solve themselves. Elitism, be it Thaksin or the current establishment feeds off of disparity. You will not eliminate disparity by putting into the hands of those benefiting from it the responsibility to solve it.
Eventually, if not after last night's Thaksin phone-in, you will get what I'm saying, if you don't already.
Witness accounts are not
Witness accounts are not sufficient evidence, in other words, you cannot convict someone simply because you have a witness.
The caliber of the bullet is also not conclusive evidence, especially when we know for a fact that the UDD militants operating throughout the duration of the unrest were also firing 5.56mm rounds from M-16's - this according to the HRW report, "Descent into Chaos" and based, not on "witness accounts," but photographic and video evidence.
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/12/mainstream-propagandists-tale-of.html
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-wall-street-manipulates.html
Unfortunately we will most likely never know who killed many of the victims of the 2010 violence, and the DSI the UDD sympathizers are all praising, pin 12 deaths on them as well - but with what evidence I don't know. To my knowledge, only up to 8 soldiers and police were killed during the violence meaning that, according to the DSI, the UDD killed civilians as well.
Think about that, won't you?