Chalerm vows to push for amnesty bill

“The amnesty aims not just to help Thaksin but everyone affected in the wake of the 2006 coup,” he said.
Chalerm said the amnesty would not cover those responsible for the 91 deaths in last year's political mayhem.
He said Pheu Thai’s push for amnesty and his attempts to bring Thaksin home were not a secret but have been a campaign pledge since 2009.
“I have been pledging to ensure Thaksin’s homecoming ever since leading the 2009 byelection campaign in Sakon Nakhon, Si Sa Ket and Maha Sarakham,” he said.
The legal issues involving Thaksin were not about the rule of law but stemmed from the coup to oust him from his elected office, he said, arguing Thaksin’s fugitive status was not the main contentious issue in the amnesty review.
Even the then coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin conceded he had been duped into staging the power seizure, therefore there was no justification to fault Thaksin, he said.
He added that he regarded Pheu Thai's landslide victory as the mandate to grant the amnesty. The general election outcome reflected the voice of the people on the amnesty issue, he said, ruling out a referendum.
He went on to state that the amnesty provisions would benefit the red as well as the yellow shirts. All parties and individuals facing criminal proceedings stemming from the coup would benefit from the amnesty, he said, denying that the clemency would cover the Bt46 billion asset seizure involving Thaksin and his family.
The asset seizure happened under the civil proceedings.
The deputy prime minister said there would be no clemency for those who ordered the antiriot operations last year because the bloodshed was the result of the use of excessive force, which had no linkage to the coup.
He said he anticipated the opposition would object to the amnesty and that he expected to overcome such opposition. He claimed that a number of opposition lawmakers might vote in support of amnesty.
He said that even though the Senate might reject the bill, the amnesty could still be enacted if the House reaffirmed its majority support.
He said he has yet to decide when to present the amnesty bill for the House deliberation. At this juncture, his two priorities are drug suppression and the supervision of the police investigations into the 91 deaths, he said, hinting the amnesty debate might take place next year following the conclusion of the drug campaign.
In regard to the 91 deaths, he said the police had made significant progress. One of the police reports had already been submitted for prosecution review, he said.
He said the police proceedings were aimed at the convening of the judicial inquiry on the cause of death. Facts behind the 91 deaths would come out, he said.
Under relevant laws, antiriot forces would not be held accountable for the deaths, he said, hinting he wanted to target the political overseers of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation.
He said the cases on the 91 deaths should be resolved although he had not checked relevant provisions whether the overseers of the CRES were covered by the immunity granted by the emergency decree.