Five years on, relatives of victims of the 2010 crackdown on red shirt protests are still seeking justice for the dead. As the Department of Special Investigation and the National Anti-Corruption Commission announced they were wrapping up their probes into the 99 deaths that resulted from military operations to retake areas occupied by protesters, relatives say they have more concerns than hopes regarding the outcomes of the investigations.
"All we want is the truth," said Ubolvadee Janthorn, the sister of Sanaey Ninlouang, a taxi driver who was shot on May 14, 2010, as he walked past the Bonkai intersection.
Sanaey had parked his car at the Lumpini police station that day, near the home of Ms Ubolvadee, whose husband and son are policemen.
The last time Ms Ubolvadee spoke to her brother, it was to give him directions to the station while he was on his way to pick up his vehicle.
Soldiers had closed several streets in the neighbourhood and surrounded the Lumpini Park protest site. Getting around was no easy task, she recalled.
She told him to take Witthayu Road, but before that, he had to pass in front of the PTT petrol station at Bonkai.
"That's where he was shot," she said.Autopsy results showed Sanaey died from a high-velocity bullet which cut through his heart. The bullet ripped into his upper chest on the left side and exited his back through the lower-right side, indicating the shot was fired from above.
Since that day, Ms Ubolvadee - the eldest of five siblings - has worked together with other victims' relatives in an effort to shed light on the April and May 2010 deaths.
Several of them live upcountry, she explained, and don't have the resources to travel to Bangkok and regularly petition the government agencies carrying out the probes. Many have made her their caretaker for finding out the truth.
"But I don't think we'll get this truth," she said sternly. Despite the fact that the investigation results are expected to be released soon, Ms Ubolvadee and others are already thinking of appealing.
NO DISCLOSURE
Phayaw Akkahad, the mother of volunteer nurse Kamolkate Akkahad, slammed the DSI for its inability to provide clear information regarding the progress of the investigation.
Kamolkate was shot dead inside Wat Pathum Wanaram on May 19, 2010, as she tended to wounded protesters from the Ratchaprasong site who had taken refuge in the temple.
Five others died in the same act of violence. According to her mother, the nurse was found with 11 bullet wounds in her body. Last July, Ms Phayaw returned to the DSI seeking an explanation after hearing a news report alleging that Suwanna Suwannajutha, the department's director-general, said security forces "only used rubber bullets" in the military crackdown that killed more than 90 people.
Ms Suwanna quickly denied making the remarks. She claimed to have been misquoted in a report first published on the ASTV Manager website on July 29.
"I wanted to hear DSI directors explain themselves before me, before the media," Ms Phayaw said.
She urged the department to follow up on the incorrect report with the media outlet that published it and to seek a correction. Such inaccurate accounts give the investigation process a terrible image, she argued.
The poor communication surrounding the progress of the cases added to the pain of the victims' relatives, the grieving mother said.
"As long as evidence remains concealed, our wounds will stay open. We will never find closure," she added.
Ms Phayaw and countless others have searched for facts about this event for the past five years, starting in the direct aftermath of the crackdown. But for many, specific details of the incidents remain unclear even today.
BLURRY FACTS
According to a source from the independent People's Information Centre: April-May 2010, the DSI is conducting a probe into the 99 counted deaths which occurred while the emergency decree was enforced.
The numbers recorded by the information centre are as follows:
The deaths include five which happened away from the protests sites - three men were killed in an explosion in a Bang Bua Thong mansion and two died as a result of illnesses following the demonstrations.
A total of 10 members of the security forces were killed: seven soldiers and three policemen.
In 2012, the DSI said it suspected that 33 of the deaths were caused by shots fired by the military. Following inquests and autopsies, the court ruled that 18 of the 33 deaths resulted from the actions of soldiers.
These included the six deaths at Wat Pathum Wanaram and the killing of one soldier.
In the 15 other cases, the court was unable to determine who fired the fatal shots.
The People's Information Centre reported that to this day, 66 cases remain unsolved, including those of five dead soldiers.
The probes are still in the hands of the DSI, which announced on July 30 it would wrap up the investigation by the end of last month.
The DSI's director-general confirmed that the department would urge public prosecutors to file complaints against the alleged perpetrators as well. No news has come out since.
When asked by Spectr u m , a high-ranking source at the DSI refused to confirm the numbers reported by the People's Information Centre. The source also declined to comment on the investigation, citing sensitivities surrounding the issue.
"Stop hiding the evidence," urged Ms Ubolvadee, whose brother's Sanaey case is among the 66 still with the DSI.
She called on those in charge of the probe to state clearly, once and for all, the number of civilian deaths and the number of soldiers killed, and to make public the stages reached in the investigation of each case.
The source at the DSI confirmed that investigators were stepping up their work and would shortly make their findings public.
"Resolve the case. It's time that the culprits took