BANGKOK — A pro-democracy activist and a Pheu Thai Party member on Monday said they’ll pursue legal action over a sex tape they allege was filmed by a third party to discredit them.
The decision came after the video clip of Nuttaa Mahattana; a leading activist in the pro-democracy movement, and former minister Watana Muangsook having sex in a Bangkok hotel room was posted online Friday.
Although Nuttaa initially said she would let it pass, the activist today said she’d like to make an example of thw case.
“A human rights organization told me yesterday that if we filed police complaints, it would help their work regarding all violations of activists,” she said. “It’ll be for the greater good, whether the people responsible are captured or not.”
The couple only went public about their relationship after the tape was leaked, saying they had kept it under wraps because they were worried it would be utilized for their opponents’ political agendas.
The clip was shot from different angles, with one showing them walking out of their cars outside the hotel and one from inside the room. Both have accused it to be “a dirty tactic” by the military to distract public attention and discredit them politically.
The army chief on Friday denied any involvement in the tape’s leak.
Junta deputy Prawit Wongsuwan today said he doesn’t think the military was behind this incident, but acknowledged monitoring “political movements that cause disruption and conflict.”
In an online post Monday, Watana said he would sue all people behind the tape which he said was meant to destroy him and the work of his party.
“The dictators might think this dirty trick would discourage or destroy me and my party, but it only allows the public to see even clearer, not only their incompetence in governing the country that has caused hardship to all Thai people, but the dirty work they attempt,” the post read.
Nuttaa said their legal team has started building a case against several parties, including the hotel owner and those who filmed them, but she doesn’t know when they’ll be able to go to the authorities.
In June, Nuttaa went to the police over online troll posts that triggered rape threats against her and her son. She said today that there has been no progress since.
