Thai Court Rejects Warrant Application for Key PAD Leaders

Published : September 16, 2010 :: 11:09:37 [ 3,657 views ]

Thai Court Rejects Warrant Application for Key PAD Leaders

Thailand’s Criminal Court on Wednesday dismissed a Crime Suppression Division (CSD) application for the issue of some 45 arrest warrants on key People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD, Yellow Shirt) leaders involved in the 2008 Bangkok airport blockades.

Bangkok, the 15^th of September 2010: Relating to the Yellow Shirt seizures of Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi International Airports in November 2008, CSD police were seeking the warrants for a 45 strong contingent of PAD leaders who had at present refused to front the agency in accordance with police summons.

Originally, CSD police summoned a total of 79 PAD leaders and key activists to hear the charges against them. However, only PAD core leader Sondhi Limthongkul and 33 other activists presented themselves to authorities in August. The 45 PAD suspects that had not appeared before police in accordance with official summons, prompted the CSD to seek arrest warrants through the court for a breach of Criminal Law.

The Thai Criminal Court on Wednesday ruled against the issuing of all 45 warrants, citing numerous suspects’ application for a postponement in reporting to police and the misidentification or incorrect identification of many of the suspects on the list. Allegedly, CSD police had not obtained full names for a majority of the 45 activists, using nicknames in order to obtain the arrest warrants.

The Court added that the rejection of arrest warrants should not hamper police investigations providing they continue to seek out the unidentified suspects and proceed with their cases through the official avenues.

The Yellow Shirts, who were instrumental in the military coup that led to the ousting of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006, seized both of Bangkok’s international airports in a nine-day blockade in 2008. The occupation affected more than 300,000 travellers and significantly damaged Thailand’s tourist-friendly image as footage of the incident was broadcast around the world.

The airport seizures were staged by Yellow Shirt activists in response to the democratically elected Somchai Wongsawat government, who key leaders of the movement criticised as a proxy of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.