PM urged to sack official for intimidating judges
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Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra must apologise to the Constitution Court judges and dismiss Yotwarit Chooklom as assistant secretary to the Interior minister for intimidating them, Democrat party-list MP Bunyod Sukthinthai said yesterday.
Yotwarit, better known as “Jen Dokjik”, did not deserve to be paid a salary from taxpayers’ money because he publicly announced the judges’ telephone numbers and addresses on stage during a red-shirt rally, Bunyod said.
This action was a violation of the judges’ privacy and an act of intimidation towards them and their families, the MP said.
“Since Yingluck has an image as a family woman, she should come out to protect judges and their families and dismiss Yotwarit,’’ he said.
Democrat Party MP for Nakhon Si Thammarat Thepthai Senpong also voiced condemnation. He said some red-shirt actions, such as revealing judges’ phone numbers, encircling the Constitution Court building in black cloth and threatening to cut the court’s security budget were blatant acts of intimidation.
He said the reds should stick to the democratic means if they wanted to try to remove the judges through an impeachment process.
Pheu Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit, meanwhile, urged the Constitution Court judges to review their decision to have Parliament suspend the deliberation of the charter-amendment bill.
He said the Attorney General and legal experts all agreed that complaints could not be filed directly with the court and must go through the Attorney-General.
He said the Attorney-General had dismissed as groundless the complainants’ claim that the charter-change bill violated Article 68 of the Constitution for an intent to topple democracy.
Deputy Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanit said a meeting of government, opposition and Senate whips had been unable to reach agreement over the Constitution Court’s decision to suspend House deliberation on the charter-amendment bill.
He believed House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont would not dare to call a vote on the amendment bill.
Nikom called on the Court judges to make a quick ruling on whether the bill is unconstitutional in order to curb the conflict between the judicial and legislative branches.
