Judge shoots himself in court ‘after being pressured to give guilty verdicts despite lack of evidence’
Khanakorn Pianchana apparently tried to kill self after acquitting defendants from charges that could have condemned three to death
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Your support makes all the difference.A judge shot himself in the chest in a court in Thailand after he was reportedly pressured to find several defendants guilty despite the lack of evidence against them.
Khanakorn Pianchana made the apparent suicide attempt after acquitting five people of murder and firearms charges in his courtroom in the southern province of Yala on Friday.
Mr Khanakorn was rushed to hospital for surgery but his injuries were not life-threatening, the Bangkok Post reported.
A statement attributed to him that circulated online claimed his superiors had tried to force him to change the verdicts to guilty.
The verdicts could have condemned three of the men to death and sent two to prison. The evidence did not support a guilty verdict, the statement said.
Mr Khanakorn’s alleged statement also criticised the security situation in the south of Thailand, where a Muslim separatist insurgency has led to around 6,000 deaths since 2004 amid accusations of army brutality.
The statement said the confessions obtained from alleged insurgents in harsh conditions of detention were not convincing evidence.
It also recounted an earlier case, in which he was allegedly pressured to ease the sentences against three soldiers involved in killing a civilian because he was told they were carrying out their state duties.
The statement went on to protest about how junior judges were treated unfairly, claiming many were forced to work overtime to write verdicts and are forbidden from taking a second job to earn extra money.
It called for a change in the law to prevent senior judges from reviewing the verdicts of junior judges before they are issued.
A spokesman for the court told Thailand’s public broadcaster the judge had shot himself due to stress.
Yingcheep Atchanont of the independent justice watchdog group iLaw expressed his “respect” for Khanakorn.
“As one of the people who are campaigning for judicial reform, I always believe that there are judges who have principles and dare to break the system but never know where they are,” he wrote in a post.
"Thank you for letting us know that our belief is true and that there is hope.”
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