Thai govt open to amnesty for political prisoners

[webfact]

Junta Open to Amnesty for Political Prisoners
By Khaosod English

BANGKOK — A top leader in Thailand's military junta says the regime is open to granting amnesty to political prisoners in Thailand if the move will help bring about national reconciliation between the country's divided factions.

Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, deputy chairman of the ruling military junta, said yesterday morning that the junta would support dissolving the legal cases against activists who participated in political protests in recent years, as long as they did not commit "serious crimes."

"Whatever that can bring about reconciliation, do it," Gen. Prawit said at the press conference. "As long as all sides and the people accept it, we will agree. Except what breaks the laws of the country, we cannot do that."

Paiboon Nititawan, a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), told Bangkok Business News that he also supported legal amnesty for protesters of all colors. According to Paiboon, over 400 Yellowshirts and nearly 1,000 Redshirts have faced legal action of some sort for their role in protests.

"In my opinion, these people qualify for an amnesty," Paiboon was quoted as saying. "Except criminal cases that harmed lives, arson charges, corruption, and insulting the monarchy. Those crimes cannot be granted amesty."

In November 2013, the Redshirt-backed government sparked mass protests by passing an amnesty bill that would have covered not only political activists, but also protest leaders, government officials involved in the crackdown, and past politicians convicted of corruption.

Protesters took to the streets and accused the government of trying to dissolve the corruption conviction of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has lived in self-imposed exile since 2008 but continued to influence Thai politics as the de facto leader of the Redshirt movement.

Some Redshirt activists also opposed the amnesty bill because it would have exempted government officials from facing legal action for their roles in the 2010 crackdown on Redshirt protesters that left over 90 people dead.

The government eventually withdrew the bill in the face of public outcry, but the anti-government protests continued, eventually culminating in the May 2014 coup d'etat.

Payao Akhard, whose daughter was killed by soldiers in the 2010 crackdown on Redshirt protesters, told Khaosod yesterday that she is glad to see Gen. Prawit's support for amnesty, but said the bill should only apply to demonstrators, and not protest leaders or government officials.

Source: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1426830354


-- Khaosod English 2015-03-20

[Costas2008]

"According to Paiboon, over 400 Yellowshirts and nearly 1,000 Redshirts have faced legal action of some sort for their role in protests."

I'm all for the amnesty.

I can see 399 Yellowshirts and 2 Redshirts coming out of jail.

As he wisely said "Except criminal cases that harmed lives, arson charges, corruption, and insulting the monarchy. Those crimes cannot be granted amesty."

[smedly]

rather stupid message to send, already posted on another thread about this - and a very clear line needs to be drawn as to who would qualify for this and who would remain in jail or continue to face charges

The victims of violence in Thailand are the innocent peaceful and law biding - their rights must be considered also

[Alwyn]

rather stupid message to send, already posted on another thread about this - and a very clear line needs to be drawn as to who would qualify for this and who would remain in jail or continue to face charges

The victims of violence in Thailand are the innocent peaceful and law biding - their rights must be considered also

I think the answer to who qualifies is straight forward enough. It will be based around shirt colour.

[lucky11]

rather stupid message to send, already posted on another thread about this - and a very clear line needs to be drawn as to who would qualify for this and who would remain in jail or continue to face charges

The victims of violence in Thailand are the innocent peaceful and law biding - their rights must be considered also

I think the answer to who qualifies is straight forward enough. It will be based around shirt colour.

It will be based upon their involvement and what it amounted to - in a general 'limited to the crime' amnesty the colour of your shirt doesn't matter.

[greenchair]

I wonder how many yellows have LM attached to their crime.

Compared to how many reds have LM attached to their crime.

I don't think the result would surprise anyone.

[lucky11]

I wonder how many yellows have LM attached to their crime.

Compared to how many reds have LM attached to their crime.

I don't think the result would surprise anyone.

The yellows are royalists and love the royal family and so I guess there won't be many cases as far as they are concerned so it certainly won't surprise me when many reds are left behind cell bars.

Commit the wrong crime and continue serving time!!!

On that front, reds not yellows committed arson so I guess it will be the same again. They should have protested peacefully and used fire to cook the dinner seems to be the overriding message here!!

Just as always - the reds got things wrong.

[Srikcir]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Junta attaches a small condition to amnesty for any political prisoner not directly involved in a civil crime:

Banishment from voting and political activities for five years. That way the Junta seemingly supports reconciliation while neutralizing future political disruption. Violation of amnesty would mean immediate imprisonment plus five additional years sentence.

[Artisi]

rather stupid message to send, already posted on another thread about this - and a very clear line needs to be drawn as to who would qualify for this and who would remain in jail or continue to face charges

The victims of violence in Thailand are the innocent peaceful and law biding - their rights must be considered also

I think the answer to who qualifies is straight forward enough. It will be based around shirt colour.

and why not as the tables are now turned?

Edited March 20, 2015 by Artisi

[Emster23]

Isn't that idea of amnesty one of the issues that precipitated coup? This time a bit more precise: "Amnesty for everyone who supports us!"

[jesimps]

rather stupid message to send, already posted on another thread about this - and a very clear line needs to be drawn as to who would qualify for this and who would remain in jail or continue to face charges

The victims of violence in Thailand are the innocent peaceful and law biding - their rights must be considered also

I think the answer to who qualifies is straight forward enough. It will be based around shirt colour.

It will be based upon their involvement and what it amounted to - in a general 'limited to the crime' amnesty the colour of your shirt doesn't matter.

Only a yellow shirt would say that, confident that shirt colour matters to the junta.

[seajae]

so all those posters that have been saying that the yellows and reds committed the same crimes are now saying if its based on who broke the laws/used violence then the reds will all be guilty but yellows wont. Does this mean they have been stretching the truth and making up all their comments about yellow protesters up till now purely due to their bias?.

As far as I am concerned anyone should be allowed to protest as long as violence isnt a part of it, if anyone commits violence etc then they deserve what they get and shirt colour shouldnt come into it. Amnesty for the ones that never committed a crime during the protests isnt a problem, if they simply did it to support their beliefs that shouldnt be criminal, those that fire bombed, blew up, shot, tossed grenades and especially those that led the protest, calling for violence and instigated it etc is a whole different kettle of fish. If the ones you support did it then it is too bad, yellow or red but trying to say this is not fair because one side was violent and one side wasnt is simply total bullsh*t.

I support neither side and never will, its the thai people that should be the ones posters care about, the leaders that instigated this for personal benefits and didnt take into condideration how it would effect the general population should be dealt with even harder than the idiots that committed the crimes but as usual they have all the money so they will walk while the idiots cop the blame. This isnt about colour but about who did all the criminal acts but then that will not sit well with some purely because they know who it was that did them, they just wont admit it.

Personally I blame thaksin, he started all this and paid for it to happen, he is the one that needs to be locked up for life and his fortune seized & paid out to the people of Thailand as compensation for the crimes he instigated but thats just my belief.

Edited March 20, 2015 by seajae

[cookee68]

Cant see it working.

[chooka]

I wonder how many yellows have LM attached to their crime.

Compared to how many reds have LM attached to their crime.

I don't think the result would surprise anyone.

The yellows are royalists and love the royal family and so I guess there won't be many cases as far as they are concerned so it certainly won't surprise me when many reds are left behind cell bars.

Commit the wrong crime and continue serving time!!!

On that front, reds not yellows committed arson so I guess it will be the same again. They should have protested peacefully and used fire to cook the dinner seems to be the overriding message here!!

Just as always - the reds got things wrong.

reds love the royal family as well. Your logic that only the elite hiso's are royalists would mean that 90% of the population were anti royal. I know some people who are very pro Thaksin and they also adore and worship the royal family.

[chooka]

Cant see it working.

It could work if they treat both sides equally, if the only release yellows then it will blow up in thier face.

[JMWPACIFIC]

I wonder how many yellows have LM attached to their crime.

Compared to how many reds have LM attached to their crime.

I don't think the result would surprise anyone.

Yellows with LM attached? Duh?

[SaamBaht]

I wonder how many yellows have LM attached to their crime.

Compared to how many reds have LM attached to their crime.

I don't think the result would surprise anyone.

The yellows are royalists and love the royal family and so I guess there won't be many cases as far as they are concerned so it certainly won't surprise me when many reds are left behind cell bars.

Commit the wrong crime and continue serving time!!!

On that front, reds not yellows committed arson so I guess it will be the same again. They should have protested peacefully and used fire to cook the dinner seems to be the overriding message here!!

Just as always - the reds got things wrong.

Another status quo-er trying to rewrite history. The yellows are not about the family but about hanging on to power. It has nothing to do with love of you know who. Besides, the disenfranchised, forever stomped on Reds love the country and all the family as much as the yellows do. They yellows just use it for cover for breaking the law and suppressing opposing views.

Nice try, though.

[Warpath]

I wonder how many yellows have LM attached to their crime.

Compared to how many reds have LM attached to their crime.

I don't think the result would surprise anyone.

The yellows are royalists and love the royal family and so I guess there won't be many cases as far as they are concerned so it certainly won't surprise me when many reds are left behind cell bars.

Commit the wrong crime and continue serving time!!!

On that front, reds not yellows committed arson so I guess it will be the same again. They should have protested peacefully and used fire to cook the dinner seems to be the overriding message here!!

Just as always - the reds got things wrong.

At best, you are extremely naive, unfortunately more cannot be said on the subject of LM.

[h90]

"According to Paiboon, over 400 Yellowshirts and nearly 1,000 Redshirts have faced legal action of some sort for their role in protests."

I'm all for the amnesty.

I can see 399 Yellowshirts and 2 Redshirts coming out of jail.

As he wisely said "Except criminal cases that harmed lives, arson charges, corruption, and insulting the monarchy. Those crimes cannot be granted amesty."

Your numbers are a bit over, but when you saw the red shirts braking into the shopping malls and try to burn them, other running around with the guns than this is really the worse crime, than what the yellows did.

Insulting the monarchy is, if you know the speech often something that would also bring you into jail in western countries.....it is not just insulting....

[NCFC]

I wonder how many yellows have LM attached to their crime.

Compared to how many reds have LM attached to their crime.

I don't think the result would surprise anyone.

The yellows are royalists and love the royal family and so I guess there won't be many cases as far as they are concerned so it certainly won't surprise me when many reds are left behind cell bars.

Commit the wrong crime and continue serving time!!!

On that front, reds not yellows committed arson so I guess it will be the same again. They should have protested peacefully and used fire to cook the dinner seems to be the overriding message here!!

Just as always - the reds got things wrong.

You seem to be saying that not loving the royal family is a crime

[rubl]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Junta attaches a small condition to amnesty for any political prisoner not directly involved in a civil crime:

Banishment from voting and political activities for five years. That way the Junta seemingly supports reconciliation while neutralizing future political disruption. Violation of amnesty would mean immediate imprisonment plus five additional years sentence.

I think that anyone will need a few years time to come up with a proper definition of 'political prisoner' and what activities said prisoner has been accused of to make either the activity or the charging political.

I can imagine that depending on ones views we may have between zero an 67m political prisoners in Thailand.