The district court of Bangkok has dismissed charges against an embattled anti-junta activist indicted for protesting against the coup-maker in May 2014.
The Court of Pathumwan District, Bangkok, on Thursday morning, 11 February 2016, dismissed charges against Apichat P., an anti-coup activist, who has been charged with violating the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)’s Order No. 7/2014, which prohibits any political gathering of more than five persons.
The court cited Article 16 and 18 of the Criminal Procedure Code, saying the plaintiff did not present the documents on the division of authorities of public officers to affirm that the police officers from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) who interrogated Apichat have the authorities to interrogate him.
At the hearing, delegates from the European Union Commission, German Embassy, and officers from international human rights groups, such as Amnesty International and International Commission of Jurists, were present in the courtroom.
Rangsiman Rome and Chanoknan Ruamsap, pro-democracy activists from New Democracy Movement (NDM), also attended the hearing to give moral support to the defendant.
Apichat, a 26 years-old law graduate student was among the first group of people, who were arrested by the coup-maker in the immediate aftermath of the May 2014 coup d’état.
On 23 May 2014, a day after the coup, he was arrested by military officers in front of Bangkok Art and Cultural Center (BACC) in central Bangkok while he was holding a flyers reads “I will not accept barbaric power” while shouting pro-democracy slogans against the coup maker, such as “return the power to the people”.
The military detained him under the martial law declared then for seven days before transferring him to Bangkok Remand Prison for another 23 days of detention. Before his release, Apichat’s family requested 1,000,000 baht (about 27,751 USD) bail four times, but the court rejected bail, citing flight risk.
Besides the violation of the junta’s assembly ban. The prosecutors also indicted Apichat of offenses under Article 215, 216, and 368 of Thailand’s Penal Code.
In brief, Article 215 lays out six months jail term or 1,000 baht fine or both to people assembling with 10 persons upwards who threaten to do an act of violence which breaches public order while Article 216 states that such persons shall receive additional three years imprisonment or 6,000 baht fine or both if they disobey the officials order to disperse.
Moreover, Article 368 could land Apichat in prison for an additional 10 days in jail for refusing to comply with the orders of officials whose authorities are invested by law.
During the first hearing on the case in November 2015, the judge told Apichat and his lawyers that the case is not serious. Therefore, if proven guilty, the sentence would not be heavy. But, Apichat maintained that he will continue to fight on until the end to prove his innocence even though it might result in heavier sentence.
“Even if the verdict turns out the be the worse, that is the court bowing down to the junta’s power and have me imprisoned, I will, nevertheless, submit an appeal request to appeal the verdict under the same principle that the coup d’état is against democracy” Apichat wrote on his facebook profile yesterday. “This is not between me and the junta, but it’s about democratic principles.”
Apichat arrested by a military officer after participating in an anti-coup protest in central Bangkok on 23 May 2014 (file photo)