Three years after the latest coup d’état, human rights lawyers have argued that the junta could not hold power without the support of the country’s judicial institutions.
The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) on 27 May 2017 released a report about the relationship between the military government and judicial institutions.
“Disguising the power of guns through laws and judicial processes would not have been possible without the cooperation of judicial institutions in legitimising or acting as supporting pillars of dictatorship,” TLHR wrote in the report.
The ouster of an elected government via a coup d’état, the suspension of the [2007] Constitution, and the suspension of basic rights are against democracy and the principle of the rule of law. Yet the coup-makers over the last three years have urged people to respect the law, the TLHR pointed out.
From 22 May 2014 - 22 May 2017, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) issued 125 announcements, 207 NCPO Orders and 152 NCPO Head Orders. Head orders were issued through the use of Section 44 of the Interim Constitution, the law which gives the regime absolute power.
Although some of the NCPO’s orders and announcements are clearly undemocratic, the lawmakers working for the junta provide impunity for the regime through the Interim Constitution and the 2017 Constitution.
According to the TLHR, at least 242 people were charged for allegedly violating the junta’s political gathering ban, at least 138 were arrested under Article 112 of the Criminal Code — the lèse majesté law — while 69 people were arrested for allegedly violating the sedition law for showing resistance against the regime.
This does not count the 212 people accused of breaching the controversial Referendum Act, which prevented people from criticising the 2017 constitution before the referendum to pass it on 7 August 2016. A further 45 people were accused of violating the Public Assembly Act during this period.
