A judge shot himself in a Yala courtroom in Thailand after handing down a ruling on Friday.
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Khanakorn Pianchana pulled out a pistol and shot himself in the chest after acquitting five defendants of murder and firearms charges that could have condemned three to death.
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He was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery for injuries said not to be life-threatening. .
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A 25-page statement he posted on Facebook before the incident, shows that the case he was hearing concerned national security and was related to secret association, conspiracy and gun-law offences.
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In the alleged document, he accused his superiors of trying to force him to change the verdicts to guilty. Khanakorn contended that the evidence did not support a guilty verdict.
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Messages reading “Return the ruling to the judges” and “Return justice to the people” were repeated three times in the document.
