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Thai police charge founder of new party over Facebook speech


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Thai police charge founder of new party over Facebook speech

 

2018-09-17T064257Z_1_LYNXNPEE8G0D6_RTROPTP_4_THAILAND-POLITICS.JPG

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, founder of Thailand's Future Forward Party sits at Technology Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok, Thailand September 17, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police on Monday charged the founder and two members of a new political party opposed to military rule with violating a computer crime law, an offence that could result in a five-year jail sentence, a fine of 100,000 baht (2,340 pounds) or both.

 

Just last week, the junta, which seized power in 2014, lifted a ban to allow parties to organise ahead of a general election due by May.

 

Critics say the electoral contest will be set up to ensure the military continues to wield influence overThailand's politics.

 

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 39, founder of the Future Forward Party, and two senior party members were charged under the Computer Crimes Act, after reporting to a Bangkok police station, where they were questioned and fingerprinted.

 

They are accused of giving false information in a June 29 speech by Thanathorn that was posted on Facebook.

 

Thanatorn, an auto parts billionaire and newcomer to the political scene, said he and his colleagues rejected the charges.

 

"The use of the Computer Crimes Act is used with the objective to silence us, threaten us, to make politics of fear happen in this country," Thanatorn told reporters.

 

The Future Forward Party launched this year hoping to attract young people and win backing from those seeking an alternative to military rule.

 

Police said they would forward the case to the attorney general within four months.

 

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Additional reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

 
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-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-17
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What a fantastic police force Thailand has, threating people with arrest and jailing for posting stupid video clips, threatening opposition political party members over nothing, while 20 000 plus are wiped out on the roads each year. Well done, Thailand and the world should be proud of you, but guess what, they aren't. 

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4 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

Predictable, and likely to fuel unrest.

Indeed.

They have never really learned how to play the game terribly well. 

 

One needn't be too observant as to notice that all viable candidates and their respective political identities have been promoting themselves in one fashion or another for quite some time - especially through social media venues. 

 

Adding, that it's quite obvious whom the current ruling class considers a very deep threat, so naturally make up offences and "criminal behaviour" to justify their surface repression. Not realizing it's not going to sit well with the ever-increasing popular movement. 

 

Awaiting the true revolution.

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40 minutes ago, Sir Dude said:

Yeah, as usual, clamp down on any entity that represents a threat to the status quo and the dinosaurs...painful really.

The junta have their head between the hammer and the anvil.

Start banning / arresting appealing (to the public) candidates on spurious charges and expose any election as a complete and utter sham or double down and put it off for another year or so, making themselves more unpopular still.

Either is fine by me if they should one day get their self-inflicted comeuppance...

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15 minutes ago, baboon said:

The junta have their head between the hammer and the anvil.

Start banning / arresting appealing (to the public) candidates on spurious charges and expose any election as a complete and utter sham or double down and put it off for another year or so, making themselves more unpopular still.

Either is fine by me if they should one day get their self-inflicted comeuppance...

Think their head is elsewhere - not between the hammer and the anvil...... 

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2 hours ago, inactiveposter said:

They’ll forward the charges within four months. Wouldn’t that be right around a special date?

Don't forget there are 3 courts. The final court, the Supreme Court, the one that counts, should deliver its verdict several years from now. A lot could happen in the meantime.

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15 hours ago, Artisi said:

What a fantastic police force Thailand has, threating people with arrest and jailing for posting stupid video clips, threatening opposition political party members over nothing, while 20 000 plus are wiped out on the roads each year. Well done, Thailand and the world should be proud of you, but guess what, they aren't. 

Yes, the BIB have a lot to answer for. But here they are just the puppets of the puppeteer. More to come I expect.?

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Junta really had an interesting idea of peace and order.

 

first they pissed off much of Isaan, but that’s ok , they just poor peasants , now they going after the young and educated ones.

 

do they really think this plan will work out well for them in the end?

 

i am also more than certain , a number of elites have had enough as well.

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12 minutes ago, BestB said:

first they pissed off much of Isaan, but that’s ok , they just poor peasants , now they going after the young and educated ones.

They have also pissed off a whole generation of students over the age of 18 who are unable to assemble or associate freely with the opposite sex in public and who can not break the standing curfew for students without fear of being sanctioned.  Young, educated, but not yet out of school.  That's got to go over big with the 18 to 22 year old undergrad uni crowd who are of voting age.  Let's not even contemplate post-grads and PhD candidates. 

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