Anti-coup moves designed to help Thaksin, Democrats say

Democrat MP and deputy spokesman Atthaporn Ponlaboot said he suspected the proposal by the group, which calls itself Nitirat (Citizens of Law), might eventually benefit fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra and further attempts to win him a royal pardon.
Thaksin has been in self-imposed exile to avoid a two-year jail sentence for abuse of power handed down in 2008 by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders.
“The proposal by Nitirat to nullify any action by [the coup-makers] is just an academic smokescreen aimed at helping to whitewash Thaksin’s wrongdoings,” Atthaporn said.
He said the way to prevent future coups – the stated goal of Nitirat – would be to create a political system that was honest and benefited the Thai people as a whole.
“Just a few years before the coup of September 19, 2006, there was severe corruption on the part of evil capitalists who benefited from selling the country’s concessions and interfering with independent organisations. That was the real cause of the coup. If you can’t stop the evil capitalists, you won’t stop coups from happening,” the opposition MP said.
Sakonthi Patthiyakul, another deputy Democrat spokesman, noted that the Nitirat group focused its proposal on expunging records and judicial decisions originating from the 2006 coup, while ignoring other power seizures.
“This makes it clear that they want to whitewash Thaksin’s wrongdoings and help him with his legal problems,” the Democrat said.
Sakonthi said he suspected the group was being used to achieve political goals. He called on the legal scholars to put the national interest ahead of those of any individual.