Civilian dissent is not a crime
In an ill-advised effort, the police and some military officers have teamed up to take legal action against small groups of people for peaceful gatherings or even simply using social media. Their pursuit of criminal lawsuits against civilians known to be critical to the military regime is horrendous and unjustifiable. This kind of law enforcement lacks both moral and legal grounds and it needs to be stopped. Two such cases took place during the past week. The first involves criminal charges filed against 39 activists who led or joined a peaceful gathering of about 100 people at Bangkok’s Pathumwan intersection on Saturday, Jan 27. The group was demonstrating its opposition to the possible election delay.
First, Col Burin Thongprapai, a legal officer of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), filed complaints with the police against seven leaders of the group for violating the NCPO’s ban on political gatherings of five or more people.
The police proceeded with the case and also decided to slap the same charge against 32 more civilians who showed up at the rally.
Them, on Tuesday, authorities charged eight civil rights activists of the People Go Network for violating the same political gathering ban, following the launch of their cross-country march campaign in Jan 20.
The We Walk march aims to demonstrate public dissatisfaction with the government’s attempts to deal with a variety of social issues.
The two cases are just the latest in a series of the regime’s crackdowns on civilians since the 2014 coup.
They come at a time the regime’s popularity is in decline, particularly due to the luxury watch scandal involving Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon which puts the NCPO’s transparency into question.
Even though these activists are facing charges, they are determined to carry on. The pro-democracy group plans to meet again at the same spot in the city next Saturday, while the We Walk campaigners have continued their march following an Adminsitrative Court injunction prohibiting police from forcibly stopping the activity.
The authorities’ pursuit of criminal lawsuits against the two could be seen as abuses of the Computer Crime Act and lese majeste law.
Against the backdrop of crackdowns on small and peaceful gatherings, criminal charges have also been pursued against two netizens who have criticised the regime on social media.
Late last month, pro-democracy activist Chanoknan “Cartoon” Ruamsap fled into exile after being summoned by the police to hear a lese majeste charge against her for sharing a BBC profile of His Majesty the King on her Facebook account in Dec 2016.
Ms Chanoknan was the second person to face charges for sharing the article. The first was Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, or Pai Dao Din, who is jailed in Khon Kaen following his confession last year.
In pararell with the lese majeste charge against Ms Chanoknan, the police also pursued a legal case against veteran academic, former Thammasat University rector Charnvit Kasetsiri, for sharing a Facebook post on Jan 11 about a handbag owned by the prime minister’s wife, which drew comments from other users falsely saying it was worth millions of baht.
Saying Mr Charnvit’s act has caused panic and disorder, the police’s Technology Crime Supression Division has slapped a charge of violating the Computer Crime Act against him.
The similarities between the two social media cases is the selective law enforcement. Almost 3,000 people shared the BBC article, but only two ended up being charged. Many more people also shared the same Facebook post as Mr Charnvit, but the law only pursued one person.
This does not mean that authorities should file lawsuits against the rest of the people who shared the same articles or posts. It means that authorities’ pursuit of criminal lawsuits against the two are questionable and could be seen as abuses of the Computer Crime Act and the lese majeste law in order to crack down on government critics.
This is not good for the NCPO, whose popularity is already declining. Over the past few years, the regime’s critics and activists have been targeted in a manner that paid little respect to the rule of criminal law.
Law enforcement officers need strong moral leadership from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who should remind them that any pursuit of criminal charges against citizens must be justified.
As long as the authorities cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt how the actions of these people constitute to crimes against communities, pose security threats, actually cause damage to others or disrupt peace and order, they cannot put these people in jail.