BANGKOK: Thai soldiers are believed to have shot an Italian photographer who was killed during mass opposition street protests in Bangkok in 2010, an official inquest found on Wednesday.
The probe by a criminal court in the Thai capital, however, was unable to identify the individual who fired the bullet that struck Fabio Polenghi, a freelance photographer who was covering the two-month-long demonstrations.
"During the inquest, experts testified that the victim died of a wound from a high velocity bullet like those used by security forces and there was no evidence of any other group in the area," according to a criminal court judge.
"The court ruled that Fabio Polenghi died from a wound from a gunshot which came from the direction where security forces were working to regain control of the area but could not identify the shooter," she added.
Polenghi was killed on May 19, 2010, the day when soldiers firing live ammunition stormed the "Red Shirt" protest movement's sprawling rally base in the centre of Bangkok.
Police told the inquest they believed security forces shot Polenghi during the demo, in which tens of thousands of Red Shirts brought central Bangkok to a standstill with demands for snap elections.
Street battles between soldiers with rifles and mostly unarmed protesters claimed more than 90 lives and left nearly 1,900 people injured, mainly civilians.
The prime minister at the time, Abhisit Vejjajiva, and his former deputy Suthep Thaugsuban face murder charges in connection with the deaths, officials announced in December.
No military officials have been prosecuted.
The kingdom now has a new government allied to the Red Shirts' hero, fugitive former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, whose sister Yingluck Shinawatra is prime minister.
Yingluck's government has said there is clear evidence that troops were responsible for the death of another journalist during the unrest, Japanese cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto of the Thomson Reuters news agency. (AFP)
