reader Posted January 31 Posted January 31 From The Nation In what is seen as a countdown to the demise of the Move Forward Party, the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that the main opposition party and its former leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, were guilty of seeking to overthrow the country's constitutional monarchy system. The nine Constitutional Court judges voted unanimously that Pita and Move Forward’s election campaigns, by proposing to sponsor a bill to amend Article 112 of the Criminal Code, had violated Article 49 of the Constitution. The court ruled that the election campaigns were unconstitutional and an effort to topple the democratic system of government with the King as the head of state. The case against Pita and Move Forward was filed by Theerayuth Suwankesorn, a lawyer known for his defence of Suwit Thongprasert, an ex-activist monk formerly known as Phra Buddha Isara. Theerayuth’s suit named Pita the first defendant and Move Forward the second defendant.The court ordered Pita and the party to stop seeking to annul or amend Article 112 either through speech or writing or any other way of expression immediately, as demanded by Theerayuth’s suit. As a result, the defendants must immediately cease using their rights to seek to annul and amend Article 112 through unlawful methods. Although Theerayuth’s suit did not ask the court to disband the party, the ruling was seen as providing a cause for Move Forward’s opponents to ask the Election Commission to seek the party’s dissolution later. Political observers expect the opponents would ask the EC to invoke Article 92 of the Political Parties Act to ask the court to disband Move Forward. Under Article 92 of the act, if the court finds any political party guilty of seeking to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, the EC can gather evidence and petition the Constitutional Court to consider dissolving the party and banning its executives from elections for 10 years. Marc in Calif, vinapu, tm_nyc and 1 other 1 3 Quote
fedssocr Posted January 31 Posted January 31 Not a surprise, I suppose. But still a sad day. reader 1 Quote
vinapu Posted February 10 Posted February 10 reminds us that despite all progress and shiny skyscrappers Thailand is still Third World feudal country reader 1 Quote
vinapu Posted February 11 Posted February 11 10 minutes ago, reader said: Don’t think we’ve heard the last of this. correct and overall I remain optimistic. Pita has time on his hands Quote
reader Posted February 11 Author Posted February 11 From Thai PBS World Royalists clash with pro-democracy group at Siam Square BTS station A group of royalists clashed with pro-democracy demonstrators at the Siam Square sky train station today, forcing Pathumwan police and BTS officials to close all entrances to the connected malls. The Taluwang anti-monarchy group, led by Tantawan Tuatulanon, held a rally at the station to explain an incident in which she was accused of honking a car horn at the convoy of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on an expressway in Bangkok. Simultaneously, a royalist group rallied nearby to protest against the first group’s activities. Speaking to the media during the rally, Tantawan offered a public apology for the incident, saying that she was sorry for speeding and was not careful enough. She was booed and jeered by the royalists, resulting in a clash between the rival protesters, forcing her to end the press conference abruptly. No serious injuries were reported. Uniformed and plainclothes police intervened to stop the affray and the rival groups went to Pathumwan police station to lodge complaints against each other. In 2022, Tantawan was charged with lèse majesté for conducting an opinion poll on royal motorcades. vinapu 1 Quote
