Former Thai PM Faces Political Ban After 2010 Crackdown

[Jacob Maslow]

Former Thai PM and former Deputy PM face impeachment and a political ban after a bloody crackdown on protestors in 2010.

Former Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva is facing a political ban after overseeing a bloody crackdown on protestors in 2010. Thai’s anti-corruption body ruled that the former prime minister may have abused his power. The decision could lead to a five-year ban from political office.

According to the Commission, the actions of then-PM Abhisit Vejjajiva and Suthep Thaugsuban, then-Deputy Prime Minister, was the likely cause of 90 civilian deaths and 2,000 injuries during the two months of protests. Protestors were demanding new elections.

Two men will be summoned by the Commission to present the defense of the former PM and former Deputy PM. A decision will then be made as to whether or not to submit the case to the interim legislature for an impeachment vote. The vote could result in a political ban.

The junta that took control last year has clearly demonstrated that it hopes to curb the power of political parties and politicians. Instead, it hopes to give power to a permanent bureaucracy to protect Thailand’s traditional political establishment. Thus far, no punishments have been doled out to soldiers who may have been responsible for some civilian deaths during the protests.

Abhisit and Suthep were both in charge of the emergency center that was responsible for handling the protests. According to Bloomberg, the two gave authorization to the military for use of live ammunition to break up the protests. Thai’s Criminal Court threw out abuse of power and murder charges against the two in August, stating that it did not have authority to hear the case.

Abhisit and the Democrat party came to power in December of 2008 after a parliamentary vote. The vote came after Somchai’s party was disbanded by the court. Red shirts who were still upset over Thaksin’s ouster in 2006 protested in the streets in 2009 and 2010, calling for new elections. Both demonstrations led to clashes with the Thai military and riots.

-- 2015-02-24

[chooka]

Don't mind Abhisit but I think that Suthep is a real nasty piece of work and needs to be taken down big time.