20 red shirts receive royal pardon
Play
Some 20 of 94 red shirts serving prison terms in connection with the last year's political mayhem have been pardoned on the occasion of the King's birthday, red shirt chairwoman Thida Thawornseth said on Wednesday.
The 20, convicted on charges related to emergency rule violations, will be released tomorrow, Thida said.
The remaining red shirts, including 32 being remanded on politically-related charges, would soon be transferred to a special correctional facility being run separate from other prisons, she said.
The special facility, located near the police officers club, is undergoing renovation to serve as a detention centre.
The red shirt chairwoman said the red shirts would keep a close watch over the political development.
“The political situation is not stabilised,” she said, citing the legal proceedings to disqualify Pheu Thai MP Jatuporn Promphan as a sign of political disturbance.
She voiced suspicion that the attack on Jatuporn was a pretext to pave way for the dissolution of the Pheu Thai Party.
She said the party would win even a bigger election victory if faced with punishment by disbandment.
She vowed to spearhead the charter rewrite in order to cancel the coup-sponsored Constitution.
