Judicial officials want some changes in Thai charter draft

[webfact]

Judicial officials want some changes in charter draft



BANGKOK: -- A total of 427 judicial officials will request the National Reform Council (NRC) to revise the charter draft after finding several clauses of the draft intervene the judicial power and threaten its independence.

The judicial officials comprise officials from the Judicial Commission, the Judicial Administration Commission and judges from all three courts of justice.

They said clauses in several sections namely Sections 218, 219, 222, 225, 226, 240 and 241 could breach the judicial power and its independence.

These clauses must be revised to upheld the principle of parallel and the independence of the Judicial power.

On Section 218, they argued that allowing access to verdict information and court order on public interest by the general public may breach the rights of disputed individuals.

They also disagreed with Section 222 that allows appointment of outsiders to be among panel of judges to rule in cases that which court has the authority to judge. They said dispute relevant to court’s authority must be rested with the courts themselves to settle.

They also requested that the age of senior judge must be clearly defined.

They also stressed that Section 240 of the charter draft, which empowers the Supreme Court to handle cases of criminal offences of holders of political office, must be attached with conditions for appeals.

They said in the past there had been cases which political defendants did not appear to stand trial but escaped the country and designated their lawyers to make appeals.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/judicial-officials-want-some-changes-in-charter-draft


-- Thai PBS 2015-04-21

[chainarong]

I always found that these guy's were the only defence against a complete break down in rule of Thai law , they sure know their job , their interpretation of law while under siege from the PTP was nothing short of outstanding , no fear nor favour with this lot, so in my humble opinion when these guy's speak you listen , now the ball is in the Junta's court , whether they want to be told the truth that's their problem ,these changes that are needed are in the interests of the country, it might be prudent to follow for a change.

[Srikcir]

In August 2014 the Junta had its Interim Charter endorsed as the law of the land. Did the judges then miss Article 44 of the Interim Charter which gave the Junta the power to circumvent the entire judicial system? Last month Gen. Prayut invoked Article 44. And NOW they're objecting to the draft 2015 charter which merely incorporates Article 44 permanently. Their judicial complacency is only matched by their political bias that deceived them into believeing they were truly independent.