A judge attempted to kill himself in court after clearing five defendants of charges that could have seen three of them face the death penalty.
Judge Khanakorn Pianchana survived the suicide attempt in his Thai courtroom.
He shocked onlookers at the Yala provincial court when he pulled out a pistol and shot himself in the chest at the end of a hearing on Friday afternoon, local-time, reports the Bangkok Post .
He was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery for injuries that were reported not to have been life-threatening.
The Post reported that the judge's suicide attempt had sparked fears locally of interference in the case.
An Office of the Judiciary spokesman told media the judge had acted out of stress stemming from personal issues.
The office planned to launch a probe into the incident.
Thai media reported the judge had uploaded a 25-page document to Facebook shortly before he shot himself, claiming the case he was hearing concerned national security and was related to conspiracy and gun law offences.
The document claimed disagreements between senior judges over the case ruling, and was said to include messages reading "return the ruling to the judges" and return justice to the pepple."
The document is no longer visible on line and the Court of Justice did not comment on its contents.
Thai politician and legal scholar Piyabutr Saenkanokkul tweeted in support of the judge.
The Future Forward Party secretary-general wrote that he did not believe the suicide attempt was linked to personal stress.
