Thailand’s Constitutional Court yesterday acquitted the nation’s third-largest political party of seeking to overthrow the constitutional monarchy in another legal case highlighting political divisions in the Southeast Asian nation.
The court ruled that the Future Forward Party showed no intention of committing sedition and that the complaint had not been filed correctly.
The party could still be dissolved under another pending charge of breaking election laws by taking a large loan from its leader. No court date has been set in that case.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The party was founded in 2018 during military rule, and advocates reformist positions that are anathema to the royalist ruling elite. Its surprisingly strong finish in an election last year and its popularity among young people rattled the government, which is led by the same people who staged a military coup in 2014.
The party criticized the military at a news conference at which it gave its reaction to the court ruling.
Its secretary-general, Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, said he and party leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkrit, have no intention of overthrowing the constitutional monarchy.
“On the contrary, coups d’etat are the real cause of corrosion of democracy under the constitution,” he said. “Tearing up the whole constitution and establishing oneself as the sovereign definitely destroys the constitutional monarchy. A group of military officers who hold guns are the ones who destroy the constitutional monarchy,” he said.
Piyabutr, one of the party’s 76 lawmakers, said he would submit a proposal in the next parliamentary session asking it to study how to prevent coups.
The case drew special attention because the legal complaint sought to link the party to a mythical conspiracy known as the Illuminati, which is purportedly an elite organization seeking world domination.
The complaint, filed last year by lawyer Natthaporn Toprayoon, listed statements by party officials supposedly critical of Thai traditions, and pointed out that its logo is a triangle, which vaguely resembles the alleged symbol of the Illuminati.
It claimed the Illuminati had sought to overthrow European monarchies and influence the US Declaration of Independence.
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard about the Illuminati being invoked in a genuine political dispute,” said David Bramwell, a British writer who has researched the conspiracy theory. “It’s a rather preposterous idea, to be honest... It smacks of political oppression and paranoia.”
The sedition case is one of a series filed against the party and Thanathorn.
In November last year, the Constitutional Court stripped Thanathorn of his lawmaker status, saying that he contravened a regulation on media ownership.
The party has taken positions critical of the military for its interference in politics. It is also seeking to amend the constitution, drafted after the 2014 coup, to make it more democratic.
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