Thailand to rule next week on North Korea weapons plane

The Belarussian pilot and four Kazakh crew were arrested in December and charged by police with possessing illegal weapons and ammunition, smuggling weapons and other banned products and failing to report the cache.

Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters the attorney general would decide on February 11 whether to pursue the case, when the men's fifth period of detention is due for renewal.

"The two countries (Kazakhstan and Belarus) want legal action to be taken in their own countries. What happens depends on what the attorney general will say on February 11," said Abhisit.

Kazakhstan and Belarus have both requested that their nationals be released for trial in their home countries.

Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya in Geneva this week said the Thai government had "suggested to the office of the attorney general to release them."

But those comments contradicted the government's official position as spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the government was "not in a position to intervene" with the court's decision.