Junta slaps dozens with lawsuits to quell dissent

politics February 01, 2018 01:00

By KAS CHANWANPEN, 
SURIYA PATATAYO 
The Nation

 

Esteemed historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, a former rector of Thammasat University, turned himself in to police at Chaengwattana Government Centre yesterday afternoon.

 

Charnvit hit for widely shared post about handbag carried by PM’s wife
 

THE JUNTA yesterday cracked down with strategic lawsuits against public political participation as police summoned dozens of scholars and activists to acknowledge charges for their roles in criticising the military government by assembling to demand the “promised” election.

 

Esteemed historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, a former rector of Thammasat University, turned himself in to police at Chaengwattana Government Centre yesterday afternoon.

 

The dean of sociology and anthropology at Thammasat, Anusorn Unno, together with seven other activists, walked from Thammasat’s Rangsit campus to acknowledge charges against them at Prathum Thani’s Klong Luang Police Station. 

 

 

Anusorn, coordinator of the Thai Academic Network for Civil Rights, is charged with violating the junta’s ban on public gatherings of five or more persons, stemming from the “We Walk” march for civil rights and a series of seminars held at universities across Thailand. 

 

Meanwhile, police yesterday summoned 39 people to acknowledge charges of violating the Public Assembly Act after they joined a demonstration last Saturday to call for a general election by November, as had been promised by Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha.

 

 

Charnvit is accused by the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) of violating the Computer Crimes Act for allegedly sharing on Facebook a widely circulated post showing Naraporn, the wife of junta chief Prayut, carrying what appeared to be a Bt2-million Hermes handbag. 

 

The historian Charnvit, who was charged for entering false information into a computer system that could “cause public consternation”, said he believed the case was politically motivated. 

 

A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), he said, could have been designed to stop him from criticising the ruling junta.

“This case is one of many such SLAPP cases. Only rulers in non-democratic regimes refuse to hear criticism. Or fear it, like the sound of the common house gecko, no matter how small,” he said.

 

The former rector denied all charges and petitioned for officers in the case to be changed because the current ones were under Pol Colonel Olarn Sukkasem, the officer who made the complaint. 

 

Charnvit said he would submit further evidence regarding the case within 20 days.

 

Countless posts have been shared regarding First Lady Naraporn’s purse, which she carried during her recent trip to the White House in October, with many concluding that a locally made handbag had been confused with a Hermes bag. 

 

But Charnvit, who shared the post with the question “How much is it?”, is the only one known to have been charged so far. 

 

Police said he was charged because the historian was a “well-known person”, his lawyer Krisadang Nutcharas told reporters after more than two hours of questioning by officers.

 

It was the first time he had been charged after more than 40 years teaching at Thammasat University, Charnvit said, adding that he believed that he had not done anything wrong legally or morally. 

 

The initial interview yesterday was also observed by the rights advocate and member of the National Human Rights Commission Angkhana Neelapaijit, with 20 people also present at the TCSD office in solidarity with Charnvit.

 

The 39 suspects in another case included the seven activists Rangsiman Rome, Sirawit Sereethiwat, Nattha Mahatthana, Anon Nampha, Ekachai Hongkangwan, Sukrit Piansuwan and Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, who were summoned on Tuesday for allegedly violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings and instigating a disturbance during a protest last Saturday on the skywalk above the Pathum Wan Intersection. 

 

Well-known junta critics such as Veera Somkwamkid and Sombat Boonngamanong were also among the 39 people facing charges. Police identified 66 more suspects who would be summoned to face charges later, according to Pol General Sriwara Ransibhramanakul, deputy police commissioner-general in charge of security affairs. 

 

The rally site at Pathum Wan Intersection was a public area, so protests were prohibited under the Public Rally Act because it was located less than 150 metres from royal premises, he said. 

 

The 39 people would be summoned to meet with police tomorrow to be formally notified of charges against them, Sriwara said, adding that if they fail to meet with investigators after being summoned twice, arrest warrants would be issued against them. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30337650

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-02-01

One wonders where this is headed ?

7 minutes ago, tracker1 said:

One wonders where this is headed ?

Civil war ?although total and utter disobedience by the nation would do it.

Edited January 31, 20188 yr by gunderhill

How to win friends and influence people...

They (people in power here) never learn. You’re drawing attention. You’re helping it snowball. 

They'll only stay in power for as long as the people let them.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Junta slaps dozens with lawsuits to quell dissent

I doubt this action will quell anything. More than likely to encourage dissent. Stupid fools they are by thumbing their nose at the people.

You can only do this for so long...............................................

3 hours ago, tracker1 said:

One wonders where this is headed ?

Down the gurgler comes to mind

The PM must be getting advice from Erdogan in Turkey,

he is also clamping down on any criticism,today he is 

arresting Doctors.

regards Worgeordie

They are no longer just trying to suppress the red voters or the Shinawartas.  It looks like it might be the whole country.   The usual tactic is to punish the leaders to scare the rest.  We shall if it works. 

 

Few countries with representative governments whose leaders won office in an election will look on Thailand favorably for doing this. 

3 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

They are no longer just trying to suppress the red voters or the Shinawartas.  It looks like it might be the whole country.   The usual tactic is to punish the leaders to scare the rest.  We shall if it works. 

 

Few countries with representative governments whose leaders won office in an election will look on Thailand favorably for doing this. 

 

It is the whole country.

 

Things changed in the course of a year (not 2014).

 

Everything has been "arranged".

 

This time around they have a free hand.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, rkidlad said:

They (people in power here) never learn. You’re drawing attention. You’re helping it snowball. 

What else can they do? You will notice on other threads that they are already laying down the foundations for the next election delay(s), so it isn't like they can even say 'Look, we said February and February it will be. Now shut up about it.'

No, all they can say is 'Shut up about it or else'. It is the only thing they know.

14 minutes ago, baboon said:

It is the only thing they know.

one of the core problems with this ruling group;

they rose thru and are conditioned by military training;

quite different than ruling a country;

unfortunately not much positive crossover

That's what you call democracy by crooks bigger than the one's they ousted.

So you can get charged for sharing a photo of a woman carrying a handbag? 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Charnvit hit for widely shared post about handbag carried by PM’s wife

Prayut - you're a bully-boy, like the biggest kid in the school playground but, in your case, with guns up your sleeve, just in case any of the natives of the country you're trying so hard to reform should step out of line, e.g. by making some careless yet harmless reference to your wife's handbag. Evidently any excuse will do, if it means dispelling any sort of risk to your fan-base.

The truth is, Prayut's days of dreaming about permanent PM-ship are numbered, guns or no guns. I can see the point approaching when the Junta's balls to use their guns will be severely tested. Or might we see a second coming of the 'soldier-mode' Prayut, happily mowing down his people during the political unrest of 2009-10. We can be sure that he wasn't on the front line when his troops saw fit to end 90 lives . . . somewhere in the rear, shouting 'shoot!', more than likely.

 

Edited February 1, 20188 yr by Ossy
error

A post containing a disallowed reference to the current government has been removed. 

7 minutes ago, Maejo Man said:

Getting more like a dictatorship every day

Well, what else to call a regime which seized power by means of a military coup (during an election), is run by a junta made up of military officers, retired military officers and their mates, and is headed up by a "Prime Minister" who as the head of the Army led the coup, and then on retiring appointed himself as Prime Minister.

 

Ruling by arbitrary decree (article 44) and trials of dissidents in camera, by military courts outside the judicial system, are quite good pointers too

Thai-democracy - banning as much free speech as possible with gagging orders.

 

So, going to get my wife to say something against them and then claim asylum in the UK for persecution !

This has uncanny parallels to Turkey they must be following Erdogans model that started when people were jailed for holding shoe boxes a reference to boxes full of dollars being flown out by his son the following graft and everyone was jailed judges academics police in fact any opposition dissent and alleged the favourite buzzwords crack down followed social media shut down and monitored .

The only difference so far is they had a fake coup and here it was real.

You'd think that the international pro-democracy movement in the West would be weighing in pretty heavily on this subject.  National Endowment for Democracy, USAID, Open Society Foundation, but for the most part, all they do is throw some sparse amounts of spare change at their own pet projects, and then stay quiet.  Read between the lines and it speaks volumes. 
 

Edited February 1, 20188 yr by connda

More Thai-style- democracy for all of us!

Thaksin must be pleased though. The government is doing an excellent job of transforming his bad guy image into a memory of better days.

does not bode well for the future

 

Junta supporters, your silence is deafening.

Just now, Oziex1 said:

Junta supporters, your silence is deafening.

 

and appreciated

I see there have been some improvements. It's not all been doom and gloom. 

But I really miss the days when I didn't have to read a post 3 times before posting.

I miss complaining about  whatever government was in power when things don't go my way. 

I am tired of talking in whispers and hiding how I feel. 

I don't like being suspicious of everyone I meet and watching my words throughout my dinner discussion. 

It's been long now. 

I really miss the old thailand with all its flaws.

 

4 minutes ago, AGareth2 said:

does not bode well for the future

 

No it does not -- it makes me think this is not going to just return to Democracy next Feb. -- and it is likely to become very messy before it comes to a conclusion.  The popularity will continue falling, the government will refuse to hold an election that it completely loses power to influence and in the end people will end up taking to the streets.  I fear 1976 all over again.

Just now, bkkcanuck8 said:

 I fear 1976 all over again.

let us hope it doesn't get to that