Twenty people were killed when the bomb hit the Erawan shrine in the centre of
the Thai capital on 17 August.
Yusufu Mieraili and Adem Karadag, also known as Bilal Mohammed,
face charges of murder and possessing
explosives.
No group has ever admitted being behind the bombing, which also
injured scores of people.
Police say the men, both from the Xinjiang region of China,
initially admitted carrying out the attack.
Mr Karadag is accused of placing the bomb inside the Hindu
shrine in a backpack.
But his lawyer has alleged his client was tortured into confessing and is innocent of all
charges except one of entering the country illegally.
Prosecutors
say Mr Mieraili delivered the backpack containing the bomb to another man.
On arriving at court, he said he was "an innocent
Muslim" who had already been detained for six months.
Both men arrived at court shackled and with bare feet.
Police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said the men had a right to retract their confession,
but "we have witnesses and clear evidence to prosecute them", AFP reports.
The Thai military government says it suspects a people-smuggling gang angered by
a crackdown on its
activities carried out the attack.
But many observers believe the attack was in fact carried out in
retaliation for the
forced repatriation
from Thailand last July of more than 100 Uighur asylum seekers back to China.
Fifteen suspects for whom the police issued arrest warrants are still at large.
pleaded (v.)
to make a statement of what you believe to be true, especially in support of something or someone or when someone has been accused in a law court:
shrine (n.)
a place for worship that is holy because of a connection with a holy person or object
a special place in which you remember and praise someone who has died, especially someone famous:
possess (v.)
to have or own something, or to
have a particular quality:
(of a wish or
an idea) to take control over a person's mind,
making that person behave in
a very strange way:
alleged (adj.)
said or thought by some people to be the stated bad or illegal thing, although you have no proof:
tortured (adj.)
involving suffering and difficulty:
Prosecutors (n.)
a legal official who accuses someone of committing a crime, especially in a law court
detain (v.)
to force someone officially to stay in a place:
to delay someone for a short length of time:
to keep someone in prison for as long as the courts feel is necessary
retract (v.)
to take back an offer or statement, etc. or admit that a statement was false
to pull something back or in:
prosecute
(v.)
to officially accuse someone of committing a crime in a law court, or (of a lawyer) to try to prove that a personaccused of committing a crime is guilty of that crime:
to continue to take part in a planned group of activities, especially a war:
smuggling (n.)
the crime of taking goods or people into or out of a country illegally:
crackdown
(n.)
a situation in which someone starts to deal with bad or illegalbehaviour in a more severe way:
retaliation
retaliate
(v.)
to hurt someone or do something harmful to someone because they have done or said something harmful to you:
repatriation
repatriate (v.)
to send or bring someone, or sometimes money or other property, back to the country that he, she, or it came from:
warrants (v.)
to make a particular activity necessary:
used to say that you are certain about something:
(n.)
an official document, signed by a judge or other person in authority, that gives the police permission to searchsomeone's home, arrest a person, or take some other action:
a reason for doing something:
at large.
ความคิดเห็น