Thai premier denies staging 2014 coup to avoid prosecution over protesters’ deaths

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha on Monday rejected allegations that he orchestrated a coup in 2014 to evade accountability for the deaths of 99 protestors during a crackdown by the military in 2010 when he was serving as a field commander.

“Anyone can just say anything. Let them talk,” Prayut said.

He was responding to claims by a former director-general of Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Tarit Pengdit, who said a high-ranking military officer had summoned him and cautioned him that a coup would take place unless he abandoned the case, the Bangkok-based Khaosod English news outlet reported.

Tarit was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday by the Thai Supreme Court.

He was found guilty of dishonestly attempting to frame then Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his deputy Suthep Thaugsuban for the deaths in 2010 of the 99 protesters, who were mostly members of the Red Shirt political movement.

At the time, Prayut served as a commanding officer on the ground handling the protesters.

“At the time, I was summoned to an army barracks on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, where a high-ranking military officer told me, ‘Tarit, you should not prosecute the death of 99 people. If you don’t believe it, you will be relieved first.’ This was a threat to me. As a result, I was transferred less than 24 hours after the coup,” Tarit said on Saturday.

From March 12 to May 19, 2010, Bangkok witnessed a series of protests orchestrated by the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, commonly referred to as the “Red Shirts.”

At least 99 people were killed during the military crackdown on the protestors.

The demonstrations were directed against the then ruling Democrat Party-led government.

Prayut launched a coup in 2014 and has been ruling the Southeast Asian nation since then.

His premiership may come to an end this week, however, as the Thai parliament will vote to elect the Buddhist-majority nation’s 30th prime minister.