Trial of suspects in Bangkok bombing again postponed

By Arun Saronchai

BANGKOK (AA) - Judges at Bangkok's military court have again postponed the trial of two ethnic Uighur men on charges of involvement in last year's Bangkok bombing in order to track down a Turkic language speaker to translate for the duo.

A court official told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that the trial of Adem Karadag (also known as Bilal Muhammad) and Yusuf Mieraili will be postponed until mid-November.

It is the third such postponement after the men's original translator, Uzbek man Sirojiddin Bakhodirov, was arrested by Thai police on drugs charges, and the court refused a defense request to bring in someone from the London-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC).

Uzbek and Uighur are dialects of the Turkic language family spoken by Turkic peoples from Southeast Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China.

According to its website, the WUC's focus is to promote the right of the Uighur people to use peaceful, nonviolent, and democratic means to determine the political future of East Turkestan, however China has designated the WUC and affiliates as terrorist organizations.

Many people refer to China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region -- home to many ethnic minority groups, including Turkic Uighur people -- as East Turkestan, a name the Chinese government actively discourages.

The official -- who did not wish to be named citing court policy -- said Wednesday that the court has been unable to find suitable translators as Uighur was not a common language, and it will now ask for help from China's embassy in Bangkok.

The August 2015 bomb at a Hindu shrine in downtown Bangkok left 20 people dead and more than 100 others injured.