A group of Thai students detained over a peaceful anti-coup rally were to be released from jail later yesterday, but sedition charges against them are to be upheld, their lawyer said, in a case that has sparked international condemnation.
The 14 students are part of a small network of pro-democracy campaigners who dared to publicly challenge Thailand’s military rulers after they seized power from an elected government last year and imposed sweeping curbs on civil liberties.
The activists — university students in their 20s, including one woman — have been in custody since late last month.
Photo: Reuters
They were detained after holding a peaceful protest at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument and charged with sedition, which carries up to seven years in jail.
Yesterday, Krisadang Nutcharut, a lawyer representing some of the students, said the military court denied a police request to detain the activists for another 12 days.
“The students have shown no sign of wanting to escape [the country]. Detention is preventing them from fighting their case... They will be released later today,” Krisadang said, adding that charges against the group had been upheld.
The case, slammed by rights groups as a serious escalation in repression by the junta, is being handled by Bangkok’s military court where there is no right of appeal once convicted and hearings are often held behind closed doors.
Soldiers yesterday morning cordoned off access to the court to journalists and supporters of the activists, who held up photographs of the students, and called and sang for their release in defiance of earlier warnings by Thailand’s army chief.
Last week the EU and the UN Human Rights Office added their voice to that of rights groups, calling on Thailand to drop the charges and free the activists from custody.
Thailand’s generals claim the coup in May last year was essential to restore order after months of often violent protests against the elected government of former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
However, opponents say it was the latest maneuver by Bangkok-based royalist elites, backed by large swathes of the military, to scupper democracy and protect their interests.
The coup marked another chapter in the nation’s bitterly divided politics that roughly pits the capital’s elites against rural voters in the northern provinces, who are loyal to former premiers Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister, Yingluck.
The Shinawatras’ parties, known for their pro-poor policies, have won every election since 2001.
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