Update: Around 6pm, about 10 student activists from Thai Student Center for Democracy (TSCD) protested in front of the military court in Bangkok to call for the release of the four activists. Meanwhile, Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) and Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) issued a joined-statement against use of military courts to try civilian cases.
The police on Monday formally charged four anti-junta activists for organising an anti-junta event in February. Since Friday, the four led a march as a campaign to raise awareness about their cases before meeting with the police on Monday.
The military staff judge advocate on Monday 4.30pm submitted the custody request of the four to the military court. The suspects have raised fund for the bail as anticipating the custody petition. Bangkok Remand Prison bus has parked outside the military court.
According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), the police at Pathumwan Police Station on Monday submitted the case file to the staff judge advocate against four anti-junta activists, who were accused of defying the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)’s directive No. 7/2014 for holding a political gathering of more than five people on 14 February.
Three of the four activists in front of Pathumwan Police Station in central Bangkok on 16 March 2015
The four activists are Sirawit Serithiwat, a student activist from Thammasat University, Pansak Srithep, a pro-democracy activist and the father of a boy killed by the military during the 2010 political violence, Anon Numpa, a human rights lawyer who volunteers for Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), and Wannakiet Chusuwan, a pro-democracy activist and taxi driver.
At the police station, Anon, the lawyer, requested the police to collect additional testimonies on the case from four renown anti-juta academics, Nidhi Eoseewong, Prapart Pintoptang, Chaiwat Satha-Anand, and Somchai Preechasilpakul before filing the case.
After the police decided to press charge, Anon filed a malfeasance complaint against the police because the police declined to interrogate four witnesses, suggested by Anon.
On Saturday morning, Pansak, one of the four activists, was arrested and detained for about eight hours at Pathumwan Police Station for leading a three-day march “I Walk Therefore I Am” to campaign against the military court’s trial of civilians. The march was organised by Resistant Citizen, an anti-junta activist group.
The four anti-junta activists in front of the military court on the afternnoon of 16 March 2015. (From left to right) Wannakiet Chusuwan, Pansak Srithep, Anon Numpa, and Sirawit Serithiwat
After an eight hours detention, Pansak continued the march. At noon on Saturday, students activist Thai Student Center for Democracy (TSCD) also marched from Thammasat University, Tha Phrachan Campus, to Pathumwan Police Station to give moral support to Pansak.
On Sunday morning, Pansak started the march at the memorial of Samaphan Srithep, his son who was killed during the political violence in 2010, on Ratchaprarop Road, then marched to the 1932 revolution memorial at the Royal Plaza, and Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue and ended the Sunday march at Thammasat University Tha Phrachan Campus at noon.
On Monday morning, the four activists performed merit-making ceremonies at Thammasat University to commemorate the 22nd birthday of Pansak’s belated son then marched to Pathumwan Police station.
The military officers monitor the anti-junta activists’ march at the Royal Plaza on 15 March 2015
The police reportedly threatened him that he would face severe charges if he participated in political activities again and said “Don’t you know that [we] are under the state of curfew”.
On Facebook, he wrote that he merely performed his duty as a resistant citizen.
Of the four, Anon faces additional allegations of importing false information into a computer system which may damage national security under Article 14 (2) of the Computer Crime Act. The Computer Crime charges were initially filed by the Judge Advocate General himself. If found guilty, Anon faces up to 25 years in jail and a fine of up to 500,000 baht.