BANGKOK — A pair of soldiers shadowing a former politician who filed a lawsuit against the military government were only doing so to have a polite conversation with him, a government spokesman explained yesterday.

Responding to former Pheu Thai MP Wattana Muengsuk’s complaints that two soldiers came to his home Wednesday night to intimidate him, junta spokesman Winthai Suvaree told reporters yesterday the soldiers were merely making conversation with Wattana and ensuring he was safe.

“The officers were following guidelines to provide orderliness in a polite and respectful manner, as have been practised in the past,” Col. Winthai said at a news conference. “It was an effort to engage in conversation, exchange opinions and coordinate information.”

Earlier Thursday, Wattana accused authorities of trying to intimidate him over a lawsuit he filed Monday in the Upper Administrative Court seeking the repeal of a travel ban imposed by the regime on more than 100 people, mostly members of the former ruling Pheu Thai Party.

Wattana said the two soldiers came to his Bangkok home where they took photographs and grilled him about his daily activities. He said soldiers also visited his family home in Prachinburi province.

“What the soldiers were doing was intimidation and a violation of my right to privacy,” Wattana said, adding he had formally complained the junta, which is formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order.

But spokesman Winthai said the soldiers were dispatched to engage in conversation and provide security. He did not explain why the soldiers were sent or on whose orders, but instead opined on the usefulness of such interactions.

“In the past, we have received good cooperation. Some people even gave us constructive and useful suggestions,” Winthai said. “But sometimes, some individuals gave information based on their existing personal attitude, which have not considered circumstances and facts around them.”

Soon after it seized power, the junta forbade Wattana and others from leaving the country without its permission. After it rejected without explanation Wattana’s request to lift the ban in July, the 58-year-old Prachinburi native took his case to the court.

“I have to communicate this matter to the leader of the NCPO and to the people, who are my masters. I have always believed that the people are the owners of sovereign power,” Wattana said.

The former politician added, “I am never afraid of powers that do not come from the people. I have to say this because in the past year since you [the junta] have seized power, you have caused so much damage to this country. Otherwise, I wouldn’t waste my time talking about this. I would like to advise you to do something beneficial to the country, such as returning power to the people quickly.”

After staging the coup d’etat in May 2014, junta chairman and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha summoned hundreds of people, mostly politicians, activists, and academics for “attitude adjustment” sessions in army camps for up to two weeks. They were later released on the condition they would not engage in political activity.

Prayuth has also enacted a ban on protests, forums and other political activities, and sent violators of the ban to stand for trial in martial courts. The junta has insisted these clampdowns on civil rights are necessary to restore peace and order to the country, and that they are equally applied to all sides.

But Pheu Thai supporters and anti-coup activists have routinely complained they are on the losing side of a double standard and uneven enforcement.

Related stories:

Ex-Pheu Thai MP Appeals Junta’s Travel Ban

Junta Bars Pheu Thai Politician From Leaving Country

To reach us about this article or another matter, please contact us by e-mail at: [email protected].

Follow @KhaosodEnglish

BANGKOK — A long-running lese majeste case ended yesterday with a rare acquittal from the Supreme Court, which found a computer programmer not guilty of insulting the monarchy due to doubts about the evidence against him.

After four years of trial and appeals in the case against 44-year-old Surapak Phuchaisaeng, during one of which he was held in prison, the Supreme Court finally ruled in his favor yesterday, saying there were reasonable doubts about the integrity of the evidence presented against him.

Surapak was arrested in November 2011 and charged with violating Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, which outlaws any defamation of the monarchy. The law, which is also known as lese majeste, carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Convictions under the offense have been growing increasingly more punitive. In the latest lese majeste cases, two courts 7 Aug. separately handed down a 30-year and 28-year sentences to a man from Kanchanaburi and a woman from Chiang Mai provinces, respectively.

Those record-breaking sentences drew condemnation for their severity.

“We are appalled by the shockingly disproportionate prison terms handed down over the past few months in lèse-majesté cases in Thailand,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement Tuesday.

The statement also expressed alarm at the lack of free trial for lese majeste suspects, and called upon the Thai authorities to release those who are currently jailed for “exercising their freedom of expression.”

In Surapak’s case, the court ruled that the evidence, namely a laptop computer he used, could have been tampered with before it reached the court.

Surapak was accused of insulting the 87-year-old King Bhumibol on social media between 4 and 16 Nov. 2011. But according to the judges, the laptop confiscated from Surapak, who works as a programmer, was turned on twice prior to proper examination.

“Deliberation on the weight of evidence concerning computer data rests on the credibility of … storage of computer evidence, which must be preserved in its original form,” the verdict read. “Because each time a computer is turned on, a change [in data] will occur automatically, and the information may be amended or changed easily.”

The verdict continued, “Therefore, the court grants the defendant the benefit of the doubt. The court hereby affirm the verdicts previously reached by the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeals.”

Both lower courts acquitted Surapak on the same grounds, but prosecutors appealed the verdicts.

Surapak was also placed in prison and denied bail throughout the trial in the first court, which lasted for a year and two months.

Speaking to reporters at the court yesterday, Surapak said he was confident that the information in his laptop computer was tampered with, especially the data that logged the websites he visited.

He also told reporters that he had much difficulty preparing his case in 2011 because he was put in prison at the time.

“It was very difficult for me to communicate with my lawyers. I had no tool to explain to the lawyers, because technical language about computers is very difficult to explain,” Surapak said.

Asked whether he would file charges against those who falsely accuse him of lese majeste, Surapak replied that he would have to discuss about it with his legal team first.

“I am pleased with the verdict because I have always insisted on my innocence. I am happy that the court allowed me the chances to explain my reasons. I thank the justice system. From now on, I will be able to invest and continue my business with a relieved heart,” Surapak added.

Surapak’s acquittal is a rare outcome in lese majeste trials. Suspects are usually forced to prove they are innocent of the charge, sometimes in a secret trial where reporters are not allowed to observe.

Related stories:

Record Sentences Today For Facebook Lese Majeste Offenses

30 Years In Prison For Facebooker Who ‘Insulted’ Monarchy

To reach us about this article or another matter, please contact us by e-mail at: [email protected].

Follow @KhaosodEnglish

BANGKOK — Thailand’s top diplomat said there is no need to explain a campaign to strip former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of his police rank to foreign governments.

Arguing the bid to deprive Thaksin, the de facto opposition leader, of his rank has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the law, Foreign Minister Gen. Thanasak Patimapakorn told reporters yesterday when asked if foreign governments might see it as politically driven.

“We won’t have to explain anything to them, because it is being done in accordance with [normal] procedures,” Thanasak said.

Thaksin served in the police force from 1973 to 1987, rising to the rank of Police Lieutenant-Colonel, which he has retained since resigning from the force.

But the military government announced Tuesday it would take up the bid to remove that rank, citing police regulations stipulating they are forfeit to officers convicted and sentenced to jail by a court in serious criminal cases.

Junta deputy chairman Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan repeated yesterday that it was a procedural matter.

“This is not arbitrary. It’s all about the laws,” Prawit said. “The people who support Police Lt. Col. Thaksin have to understand that everything is being done under the law. We are not bullying anyone. This government doesn’t want to create any conflict.”

Thaksin was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to two years in prison by a Bangkok criminal court in 2008, two years after the military staged a coup d’etat against him, ending his five year tenure as an elected Prime Minister. However, Thaksin has never served the jail term because he fled Thailand several months before the verdict was handed down. He insists the conviction was politically-motivated.  

Since then, Thaksin has been living in self-imposed exile and has continued to influence Thai politics through his allies and proxies, such as his younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, who headed the government from 2011 to 2014.

The pro-Thaksin government came to an end when the military staged a putsch against it in May 2014. Following the takeover, the junta appointed several bodies to govern the countries, stacking the agencies with numerous politicians, activists, and academics known for publicly opposing Thaksin.

Gen. Prawit added that the government only made the decision to move forward with the plan Tuesday after studying the legal framework to make sure it could be done.

Nevertheless, Royal Thai Police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawuth Thawornsiri it had never been done before.

He said the police have stripped 600 officers of their ranks due to legal convictions or other wrongdoing, but all cases involved active-duty officers. Never have police considered stripping the rank of someone who already left the force, Prawuth told reporters yesterday, saying there was no precedent.

“As far as I know, there is none,” he said. “We have to check again, but I believe this case is the first of its kind.”

Although Thaksin has been out of power since the 2006 coup, he continues to be a deeply polarizing figure in Thailand, where the two most prominent political factions – the Yellowshirts and the Redshirts – are divided along their anti- and pro-Thaksin stances.

While the Yellowshirts accuse Thaksin of being a corrupt populist who manipulated rural voters and harbored a hostile attitude toward the monarchy, the Redshirts view him as a champion of the poor whose policies helped raise many from abject poverty.

To reach us about this article or another matter, please contact us by e-mail at: [email protected].

Follow @KhaosodEnglish