A lawyer for one of the men said military prosecutors yesterday (Nov 23) brought ten counts against Bilal Mohammed, aka Adem Karadag, and Yusufu Mieraili, including premeditated murder, illegal possession of weapons and premeditated attempted murder for the bombing in August.
“The court has accepted the ten charges that prosecutors formally brought against the two men,” said Choochart Khanpai, Mr Mohammed’s lawyer.
Shortly after the two appeared today, the United Nations called on the government to stop holding civilian suspects in army detention, AFP reported.
Authorities say Mr Mohammed has allegedly confessed to placing a rucksack with explosives at the Erawan shrine on Aug 17 while Mr Mieraili allegedly confessed to detonating the bomb, leaving 20 foreign tourists and Thais killed and 130 injured.
The suspects were taken from the temporary prison at the 11th Military Circle in Bangkok’s Dusit district to the Military Court in Phra Nakhon this morning where they were asked if they wanted to use English- or Turkish-speaking interpreters.
Mr Choochart said neither defendant entered a plea today because further arrangements were needed to provide an interpreter for his client. He said Mr Mohammed could not communicate in English well and he refused to use a Thai-American police officer who has been serving as an interpreter for him and Mr Mieraili.
However, Mr Mieraili accepted Pol Lt Col Thuaythep David Wiboonsilp of the Special Branch Bureau’s Foreign Affairs Division, who has appeared alongside the two men since the Erawan blast investigation, as his interpreter.
Documents sent by prosecutors to the court said both men were Chinese nationals from the Uighur minority.
Mr Mohammed asked the court to appoint an Uzbek man to be his interpreter but the prosecutors opposed the request, saying the man’s background was not known and needed checking.
Mr Choochart will submit information about the Uzbek man within 15 days.
The court set Feb 16 for the defendants to formally hear the charges and enter their pleas.
Mystery still shrouds the motive for the unclaimed attack, with police still not confirming the nationalities of the suspects.
The shrine that was targeted is particularly popular among ethnic Chinese visitors from across Asia, who made up the majority of those killed.
Strong speculation had centred on a link to militants or supporters of the Uighurs, an ethnic group who say they face persecution in their homeland in China's Xinjiang region, after Thailand in July forcibly deported a group of 109 Uighurs back to China.
Police have rejected the notion that the bomb was a revenge attack for the recent deportations.
AFP reported that China today said it hoped justice would be delivered.
“This bombing fully reveals the barbarity of the criminals,” Hong Lei, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters at a regular briefing. “We hope that justice can be delivered, and relevant people can be held accountable for what they have done.”
Meanwhile, the UN reiterated its opposition to the use of military courts for civilians.
“The use of a military barracks as a detention facility is prone to human rights violations, including torture,” said Matilda Bogner from the UN Human Rights Office for South East Asia.
The UN added that it had received reports a lawyer representing one of the Bangkok bomb suspects “was not allowed to meet with his client in a confidential manner, and that he had his questions screened beforehand” at the barracks.
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