Pheu Thai MPs sues six constitutional court judges in Criminal Court

[webfact]

Pheu Thai MPs sues six constitutional court judges in Criminal Court



BANGKOK: -- A group of former Members of Parliament (MPs) of the ruling Pheu Thai party today filed a case in the Criminal Court accusing six of the 9-member panel of the Constitutional Court judges of malfeasance in office and abusing of authority for accepting a petition by a retired army general accusing a total of 314 MPs for amending of the constitution regarding the composition of the Senate.

The group of former MPs was led by Mr Amnuay Klangpa, former government whip chief.

Mr Amnuay and his colleagues accused Constitutional Court president Charoon Intajarn, and five other judges who included Charun Pakditanakul, Chalermpol Ek-uru, Thawikiat Menakanit, Suphot Khaimuk, and Nurak Mapranit of malfeasance in office and abuse of power under Articles 157, 201 and 202 of the Criminal Code.

He said that the six Constitutional Court judges had accepted for trial a petition lodged by Gen Somjetn Boonthanom and colleagues on November 8 last year accusing a total of 314 MPs of violating the Constitution for the amendment of the Constitution regarding the composition of the Senate.

Gen Somjetn accused them of attempting to overthrow democratic regime for the illegitimate constitutional amendment.

The Constitutional Court later handed down a verdict with a majority votes of 6-3 to accept the petition for trial.

Amnuay claimed in the suit filed with the Criminal Court that the ruling to accept Gen Somjetn’s petition for trial was illegitimate because the general and his colleagues are not the attorney-general. Besides, he said, he and colleagues were MPs who have full authority to amend the constitution as it was the duty of the Legislative.

The act of the six court judges was, therefore, tantamount to be a malfeasance in office and abuse of power.

The Criminal Court accepted the Pheu Thai MPs’ petition and will have a decision later whether to accept it for trial.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pheu-thai-mps-sues-six-constitutional-court-judges-criminal-court/


-- Thai PBS 2014-02-25

[Nacho]

Ironic that the PTP charge others of abuse of power...

[rogerdee123]

So ... will we have the Criminal Court trying the Constitutional Court ?

Although I doubt it ...... the mind boggles.

[Scamper]

The madness that is Pheu Thai goes on unabated. Pheu Thai are going after the very institutions that will judge them - unsurprisingly - and now they are setting their sights on the Constitutional Court. Pheu Thai are using that old, old tried and failed argument of theirs that no cases can go to trial that are not submitted outside of their own politically appointed Attorney-General. ( In other words - never ! ) And using the constitution against the Constitution Court through the Criminal Court - well, the fact of the matter is that Pheu Thai have never met a court they didn't like - so why not set them against themselves and see what happens ? The sooner this administration is out the back door the better.

[Robby nz]

And if the criminal court judges don't find in our favor we will sue them too and if that doesn't work we will talk to Thida about getting the reds to deal with them.

Still attempting to intimidate the courts and judges.

Do they not realize that they are making themselves look worse every time they do something like this ?

PT democracy.

[MunterHunter]

Blatent tit-for-tat tactic... and groundless to boot.

This wont progress, its a non-starter.

Move along... nothing to see here.

[rubl]

didn't we have a similar case last year with the government complaining that just about anyone could petition the Constitutional Court? Isn't that why the Pheu Thai led government wanted to amend a constitution article to 'protect' the Constitutional Court from frivolous petitions by introduction a screening body like the Attorney-General. All for the sake of democracy of course.

BTW what happened with the Government and Ms. Yingluck's respect for the Constitutional Court? Is it a matter of "odd days yes, even days no" ?

[binjalin]

good luck to them - they are right, obvious to any independent observer, but will get nowhere unfortunately as the courts are part of the 'system' designed to retain power for the elite

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

I would assume that judges and the courts have immunity from this type of nonsense. I'll do my research and see what I can find.

[uty6543]

For those of you who know a lot about the Thai legal system.

Could this just be a delaying tactic or will the case against the 314 MP's carry or regardless?

[Now or Never]

PTP consistently loose court cases and consistently break the law thus proving PTP need better quality legal advice

[Pib]

The PTP is pissing into the wind with this law suit...just wasting everybody's time...but the PTP knows that...it's all for the consumption of the mislead.

[StealthEnergiser]

just another stalling tactic without any chance of being favoured to Pt, let's hope they cop a few more charges for making these allegations.

[than]

PT try to buying time, their know that all former MP will be face serious charge can dissolve PT party......

They tried to change the mode of senate election to purpose controle all indepenants agencies and stop all check of balance in THAILAND

[nong38]

Not much chance of winning this one chaps, judges are hardly likely to convict their own. Sometimes it pays to stop and think or if thats too difficult either one will do, still its your money.

In a wider picture though these are the people who were elected to help ruin/run the country, well the lights might be on but nobody is at home! Theres a lot of them about.

Edited February 25, 2014 by nong38

[MK1]

Under a democracy, since when do Judges have to be politically aligned and correct to do their job? = When dictatorial fascists are seeking to be exonerated for everything.

[aimbc]

I think the chances of going after 6 out of the 9 judges is quite a tall order. Going after 1 or 2 they may have a chance, but to go after 6? I think PT is making threats as usual and just trying to make news or build some kind of a story that the judicial system has been compromise. Or maybe they have not been compromised by PT themselves.

[LevelHead]

Its just like the rice scheme.

When Abhisit/Dems were in power PTP made a complaint to the NACC about over 160 billion baht damage, and yet the NACC declined to investigate this in 2011.

And now they want to investigate the rice scheme because Yingluck and PTP are in power.

So quite rightly PTP have now filed again for Abhisit to be investigated for the rice scheme and the losses when he was in power - I wonder if the NACC will do it ?

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Pheu-Thai-to-ask-NACC-to-probe-Abhisit-over-rice-p-30227647.html

.

[bigbamboo]

I suppose this is what happens when you have businessmen playing politics. Their first recourse is not to parliament but to the courts.

Hopeless.

[LevelHead]

PTP consistently loose court cases and consistently break the law thus proving PTP need better quality legal advice

The thing with the law is "precedent".

All sorts of precedents are being set at the moment by the courts, and these precedents will be brought up and used against Abhisit and Suthep and the Democrats in future.

Whilst it may seem silly to the average person to pursue certain cases, the precedents being set in the rulings now are all for future reference.

One thing the lawyers aligned with PTP are doing is reporting all evidence and rulings and demonstrations and violence to the ICC (International Criminal Court)

Tonights kidnapping of the deputy government spokesperson by the PDRC has already been reported to the ICC according to a certain Mr Amsterdam.

A massive list of complaints against many people is lodged with the ICC, and these will come back to haunt people in the future, just like the precedents being set with every court ruling.

All in my opinion of course.

Edited February 25, 2014 by LevelHead

[Arkady]

With due respect precedent is less important in a civil law jurisdiction like Thailand and most European countries than in Anglo-Saxon common law jurisdictions. Remember the precedent of Sanan convicted in the constitutional court for asset concealment in 2001 was not taken into account when Thaksin was acquitted by the same court a couple of weeks later on seemingly stronger evidence. There are many similar cases where judges have ignored precedents and relied on their independent interpretations of statutory law.

But I agree that this flurry of litigation will create many interesting precedents that will be hard to ignore.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[bigbamboo]

PTP consistently loose court cases and consistently break the law thus proving PTP need better quality legal advice

The thing with the law is "precedent".

All sorts of precedents are being set at the moment by the courts, and these precedents will be brought up and used against Abhisit and Suthep and the Democrats in future.

Whilst it may seem silly to the average person to pursue certain cases, the precedents being set in the rulings now are all for future reference.

One thing the lawyers aligned with PTP are doing is reporting all evidence and rulings and demonstrations and violence to the ICC (International Criminal Court)

Tonights kidnapping of the deputy government spokesperson by the PDRC has already been reported to the ICC according to a certain Mr Amsterdam.

A massive list of complaints against many people is lodged with the ICC, and these will come back to haunt people in the future, just like the precedents being set with every court ruling.

All in my opinion of course.

Don't forget Thailand hasn't actually ratified the ICC treaty so they may not get much joy there.

[Arkady]

True. Thailand signed but has never ratified the treaty. That's why R Amsterdam was once investigating having Abhisit charged as a British citizen. The ICC can still hear cases but Thailand is not bound by its jurisdiction and it could not extradite a Thai citizen there. The ICC only takes in cases that can't be heated in the country of origin, even if it is a treaty country. Therefore hearing a Thai case would be close to impossible unless certain things change.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[3NUMBAS]

good to see them taking on the judges who have others pulling their strings . its been going on for too long.

[Basil B]

I do hope those who brought these ridicules charges are sent down for contempt of court...

[mrtoad]

PTP consistently loose court cases and consistently break the law thus proving PTP need better quality legal advice

The thing with the law is "precedent".

All sorts of precedents are being set at the moment by the courts, and these precedents will be brought up and used against Abhisit and Suthep and the Democrats in future.

Whilst it may seem silly to the average person to pursue certain cases, the precedents being set in the rulings now are all for future reference.

One thing the lawyers aligned with PTP are doing is reporting all evidence and rulings and demonstrations and violence to the ICC (International Criminal Court)

Tonights kidnapping of the deputy government spokesperson by the PDRC has already been reported to the ICC according to a certain Mr Amsterdam.

A massive list of complaints against many people is lodged with the ICC, and these will come back to haunt people in the future, just like the precedents being set with every court ruling.

All in my opinion of course.

Very curious about the alleged kidnapping ? Is this unsubstantiated rumourmongering as I can't see anything.

[heybruce]

"Gen Somjetn accused them of attempting to overthrow democratic regime for the illegitimate constitutional amendment."

They voted to make the Senate fully elected. Only in Thailand would it be illegal for elected representatives to vote to amend the constitution. The military junta that wrote the current constitution stipulated that almost half the Senate would be appointed. The intent was to make the elected government weak and easily manipulated by the traditional elite, including courts and the military. What the PMs and senators did may be illegal under this flawed constitution, but it certainly isn't undemocratic.

[rwdrwdrwd]

Very curious about the alleged kidnapping ? Is this unsubstantiated rumourmongering as I can't see anything.

They did for a short amount of time this evening detain a young woman who was previously the deputy government spokesperson. Thankfully she has been released. https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow/status/438316792587374592

[10Yen]

I'm sure she has the backing of all ThaiVisa members....................

[Arkady]

I think the criminal court will rule it doesn't authority to hear a case to do with the constitution but it will be interesting to see what it says.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand