Jatuporn sticks by his allegations against Abhisit
Play
In his testimony at court yesterday, red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan insisted that all the remarks he had made about former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva were truthful and had not been made with defamation in mind.
Jatuporn was at Criminal Court to face libel charges filed against him over comments he had made about Abhisit evading compulsory military conscription, using false documents to land himself a job at Chulachomklao Military Cadet Academy, and ordering the 2010 deadly crackdown on red shirts, among others.
When questioned by the defence team, Jatuporn insisted that Abhisit had used false documents to land a teaching post at the famous cadet school and that the Defence Ministry was currently looking into the matter.
He also said several incidents such as Abhisit’s car being smashed while he was prime minister in early 2009 were part of a ploy to justify the adoption of draconian laws like the emergency decree to suppress and persecute the red shirts.
As for Abhisit allegedly evading military conscription, Jatuporn said: “A prime minister should be an example in terms of serving the nation. Not serving as a military conscript is unpatriotic.”
Jatuporn also told the court that Abhisit’s alleged decision to use false documents also went against the standards expected of someone who is to become a prime minister.
“As prime minister, one must be honourable and be a good example for Thais. The prime minister must have a higher standard,” he said.
Jatuporn went on to say that none of the 30 or so men caught on camera smashing Abhisit’s car had ever been arrested.
“This was part of him engineering violent situations to justify the [2010] crackdown,” Jatuporn told the judges.
Other examples cited by Jatuporn included the deployment of men in blue T-shirts to confront the red-shirt supporters near the site of the Asean summit in Pattaya in April 2009, which was abruptly cancelled because of the violence. Jatuporn told the court that the men in blue were seen mingling with police officers and that he had been told by a military source that these men were actually police recruited from provinces in the Northeast such as Buri Ram.
As for allegations linking Abhisit to the 2010 crackdown, Jatuporn said he believed that the “leaked” recording of the former PM ordering the offensive was genuine. He then questioned Abhisit’s motives for not allowing the audio recording to be played in Parliament.
