Pheu Thai leaders ‘not criminals’
Pheu Thai Party leading figures facing charges for speaking out against the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) have done nothing criminally wrong as they acted within reason to express their views, senior party figure Khunying Sudarat Keyurapan says.
The charges were pressed against party members who held a press conference in Bangkok last Thursday during which they levelled criticism over the regime’s fouryear stint of running the country.
The NCPO sent its legal team led by Col Burin Thongpraphai to the party’s headquarters on Phetchaburi Road to warn members they were violating an order which bans political gatherings of five or more people, among other transgressions. Despite the warning, the conference went ahead anyway.
On hearing the police warning, the party cut the number of speakers to three and the officers were assigned to listen in. The speakers were Chusak Sirinil, Chaturon Chaisang and Watana Muangsook.
Other key figures from the party were among the attendees. They included caretaker leader Viroj Pao-in, acting secretarygeneral Phumtham Wechayachai, Noppadon Pattama and Chaikasem Nitisiri.
The charges pertained to the breach of the Criminal Code for sedition and the Computer Crime Act, by publicising the event on its website.
The members were speaking as the NCPO was marking its four years of the May 22, 2014 coup it engineered that ousted the Pheu Thai-led government.
Yesterday, Khunying Sudarat, who is reportedly poised to be a candidate for the party leadership, said it unjustifiable to cite Section 116 as a legal basis for seeking the party members’ prosecution in the name of national security.
She said it looked more like the NCPO was using the section to make itself secure in light of growing criticism against the regime. She suggested the section was being abused in this case and said any criticism voiced for the good for the country should not be punishable under the section.
The Pheu Thai members who spoke at the conference said they planned to meet the police to acknowledge the charges today.