A judge in Thailand on Friday shot himself in the chest in front of a packed court after he acquitted five men of murder, AFP reported. He criticised the country’s justice system before he pulled out a pistol.

Kanakorn Pianchana, a judge at the Yala Provincial Court, delivered the verdict for five Muslim suspects in a murder case. “You need clear and credible evidence to punish someone,” he said soon after. “So if you’re not sure, don’t punish them. I’m not saying that the five defendants didn’t commit the crimes, they might have done so. But the judicial process needs to be transparent and credible...punishing wrong people makes them scapegoats.” The speech was broadcast live on Facebook.

The spokesperson of the Office of the Judiciary, Suriyan Hongvilai, told AFP that Pianchana is out of danger and is being treated by doctors. He said the judge shot himself because of “personal stress”. “But the cause behind the stress is not clear and will be investigated,” Hongvilai said.

The spokesperson added that no Thai judge had ever breached the protocol by making such statements on the wider justice system It is not yet clear why Pianchana attempted to kill himself.

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