An Italian woman who became an unlikely crusader for justice in Thailand after her brother’s death four years ago has died, according to her family. 
Elizabeth Polenghi made it her mission to determine what happened to her brother, Fabio Polenghi, who was shot to death May 19, 2010, during a government crackdown on red shirt protesters in Bangkok.
Elizabeth, also known as Isa Polenghi had been suffering from pancreatic cancer for some time before she died on Monday. She was 51. Soon after her brother’s death, Elizabeth began visiting Thailand looking for answers. She hounded witnesses, journalists, authorities, organizations and politicians tirelessly to piece together the final hours of her brother’s life.
On May 19 Fabio was among journalists observing as the army moved in with armored personnel carriers and heavy weaponry to clear remaining protesters from Bangkok’s central commercial district. Along they way they received armed resistance from an armed group called the so-called “Men in Black.”
Last May a court ruled Fabio Polenghi was shot with an army-issue bullet from the direction the army was advancing along Ratchadamri Road, but his killers have never been identified or held accountable.
An investigation by Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations also linked security forces to the death of Hiro Muramoto, a Japanese cameraman for Reuters killed on April 10, 2010. The DSI’s preliminary findings in November, 2011, were later reversed and withdrawn.
Photo: Isa Polenghi
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