Global General

Sister of dead Italian photographer calls for probe

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-30 21:03

BANGKOK - The sister of an Italian photographer, who was shot dead more than two months ago in clashes between the army and the anti-government protestors, on Friday called on the Thai authorities to speed up the investigation.

"The goal of the meeting (with the authorities) is collaboration, sharing some information with the investigator here and to speed up the investigation (on the death)."said Elisabetta Polenghi, sister of the killed photographer Fabio Polenghi, at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand.

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She said more than two month after Fabio's death, the family still have not got definitive autopsy report that clarifies the dynamics of the situation, and Fabio's camera, with which he was taking photos before he was shot, have not been found, even though "we have given the authorities a photograph of the face of the man (who might have taken it away)."

Fabio was shot dead at around 10:45 on May 19 near Lumpini Park of Bangkok, about 1 km from Ratchaprasong, the heart of the Red- shirts rally site, as the soldiers was trying to disperse the red-shirts protestors with force and the latter fought back.

According to Masaru Goto, a Japanese photographer who was at the scene, the cross-fire was very intense at that moment. "I cannot say where the shots came from." Some of Fabio's personal stuff, including his camera and cellphone, was missing since then.

Elisabetta said they want to find the camera as soon as possible because it not only recorded the last hours of Fabio's life, showing what he was working on, but also may provide information to facilitate the investigation.