A lawyer representing a former member of the parliament (MP) of Chiang Mai accused of sedition over letters allegedly criticising the junta-sponsored draft charter was barred from listening to charges against his client.
On Tuesday afternoon, 2 July 2016, Tassanee Buranupakorn, former MP of the northern province of Chiang Mai from Pheu Thai Party, Boonlert Buranupakorn, former chief of the Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organisation, Khachen Jiakkhajorn, mayor of Chang Phueak Subdistrict in Chiang Mai's Muang District, and 8 other detainees, were brought to the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), Bangkok to listen to accusations against them, the BBC Thai reported.
The police informed them that they are accused of violating Article 116 of the Criminal Code, the sedition law, Article 210, a law against criminal association of five or more persons, and the controversial Article 61 of the Public Referendum Act.
The 11 were accused of such charges for allegedly involving in an attempt to distribute thousands of letters in Northern Thailand which reportedly contained materials criticising the draft constitution.
According to Jamnong Chaimongkol, Tassanee’s defence lawyer, the police did not allow him to listen to the accusations against his client.
He told the BBC Thai that the authorities also appointed another attorney from the Lawyer Council of Thailand to represent Tassanee, adding that such measure is against the rights of suspects because they are entitled by the law to choose their own lawyers.
The authorities will take the 11 suspects to the Military Court of Chiang Mai in order to request for custody permission to detain them.
The 11 will face trial in the Military Court if the military prosecutor indict them.
All the suspects were arrested in last week and were taken to the 11 Military Circle in Bangkok.
On 26 July, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, invoked his authority under Section 44 of the Interim Charter which gives him absolute power to maintain national security, to issue the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Head’s Order No. 44/2016.
The order suspends any public officials and local public administrators allegedly involved in anti-draft constitution letters from their posts.
According to the authorities, the letters, thousands of which were recently found and confiscated in the northern provinces of Lampang and Chiang Mai, were deemed illegal under the controversial Public Referendum Act because they contained distorted facts about the draft constitution.
Tassanee Buranupakorn (center), former MP of the northern province of Chiang Mai from Pheu Thai Party (Photo from the BBC Thai)