Chaturon’s passports to be reinstated
The Central Administrative Court has ruled that three passports once held by former deputy prime minister Chaturon Chaisang be reinstated after they were previously revoked.
The ex-Pheu Thai MP earlier filed a number of lawsuits against the Foreign Ministry, its minister and permanent secretary; the Consular Affairs Department and its director-general; and the Royal Thai Police and its chief for revoking his passports on the grounds that he was banned from leaving the country while facing arrest warrants.
The warrants were for failing to report to the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), and for sedition as his Facebook posts concerning the impeachment of politicians undermined the separation of powers, the court said.
He was granted bail on condition he sought the permission of both the court and the regime to travel abroad, which he did, the court said.
He was subsequently authorised by the court and NCPO to go to China, Japan and Germany. Each time, he returned by the agreed schedule and did not show any signs of attempting to flee or avoid trial, the court said.
“The revocation of his three passports cannot be justified, especially when compared to the impact this would have on his fundamental rights as a Thai citizen to have and use a passport,” the court said.
As such, the Consular Affairs Department’s move to revoke his passports was an illegitimate exercise of its discretionary power, the court said.
The department was acting on a request from its director-general.
The court ordered the order to be lifted retroactive to the day it was implemented and the passports revoked.
Two of Mr Chaturon’s regular passports and one diplomatic passport were invalidated as of Aug 19, 2015.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement at the time saying that this had been done at the request of the Royal Thai Police.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha claimed it was because Mr Chaturon had repeatedly violated the NCPO’s orders.
Mr Chaturon was deputy prime minister during the Thaksin Shinawatra government and minister for education, justice and the prime minister’s office from 2001-14.
He was also an acting leader of the Thai Rak Thai Party after Thaksin resigned as party leader in 2006.