No flaws in organic bill, Meechai says

The Constitution Drafting Committee is unlikely to set up a joint panel to thrash out any constitutional flaws in the organic bill on criminal procedures for holders of political positions, CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan says.

He had yet to find any content in the bill, passed by the National Legislative Assembly last Thursday, which defied the charter.

However, the CDC has up to 10 days from last Thursday in which to study the bill in detail before making a final decision as to whether a joint panel should look into it.

Downplaying concerns the organic bill will be problematic in practice, Mr Meechai said some judges may attach themselves too much to present court procedures.

He insisted the bill does not trample on the basic rights of suspects who are political post-holders to a fair trial.

The only exception is in the bill’s stipulation that suspects who are political postholders in a pending trial and who are on the run will tried in absentia.

“There must be justice for both the suspects and society,” he said.

Mr Meechai said it does not follow that people with the means can flee the trial and the society cannot do anything about it while fugitives continue to file legal action remotely through their lawyers at other people in the country.

“That doesn’t sound fair,” he said. Mr Meechai insisted fleeing a trial is not a individual’s right, but an act of wrongdoing.

“So, to conduct a trial for a fugitive in absentia does not annul his or her rights,” he said.

Fugitives, under the organic bill, can appoint a lawyer to fight the case in the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions and they can also seek to have a case revived afterwards, provided new evidence comes to light.

Leading Pheu Thai Party members have protested against the organic bill which could see four suspended cases against fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra resumed.

They say the bill l ooks as if it is designed to target Thaksin and is politically motivated.

The party’s legal expert Chusak Sirinil attacked the infinite statute of limitations imposed by the bill.