Justice rejects amnesty commission idea
Justice Ministry spokesman Sittisak Vanachakij said a proposal by academics to set up a commission to grant amnesty and solve the lingering political conflict stemming from the 2006-2010 military coup, was done with good intent.
However, he said, the Nitirat Group of Thammasat law lecturers lacked the international norm that would allow such a commission to act in place of the courts of law.
Sittisak said such a commission as proposed by Nitirat, (also known as ‘enlightened jurists’), was not needed as the various courts of law are qualified to dispense justice to all. Also, there has been no such precedent elsewhere where a commission has the necessary judicial authority.
“The Parliament is the best channel in passing an [amnesty] bill. It’s up to the Parliament to decide,” said Sittisak, adding that what Nitirat proposed was an academic opinion that society must look into and decide whether was appropriate or not. Sittisak added that another big hurdle was whether politicians would accept such an idea.
