PM to let lawyers deal with charges
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PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha will have a team of lawyers from his National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) defend him and other NCPO leaders against a petition filed against them over the May 22 coup.
The Appeal Court on Monday ordered the NCPO members to produce statements replying to the petition filed by the Resistance Citizens anti-coup group, accusing them of rebellion by staging the coup last year.
The Justice Court earlier turned down the petition, so the group filed the petition again before the Appeal Court.
Prayut said during his weekly press conference he would not do anything but let the law take its course. Government deputy spokesperson Maj General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the legal team would take care of the matter.
“The PM holds all parties in respect, including the courts,” he said. “It’s hard for him [Prayut] to say anything about it now and he wishes not to comment on the matter.”
The Appeal Court on Monday accepted the petition lodged by a group accusing the NCPO’s leaders of rebellion, allegedly in violation of Section 113 of the Criminal Code.
The court ordered the NCPO’s heads to produce defence statements against the petition within 15 days.
Prayut said little about the petition, only questioning what would happen next.
“The court could accept [the petition], so - why? Then what? What are you going to punish me [for]?” said Prayut in response to the media questions.
In a related development, the Resistance Citizen group‘s lawyer Anon Nampa said that accused officers had their rights to [defend themselves] by law, and he believed they would follow a legal system.
“They [the NCPO heads] could propose to fix the appeal, or they could propose that prosecutors act on behalf of them.” Anon explained
“Then the Appeal Court will decide whether to file a charge on the case.”
Any proposed amnesty legislation, he continued, should not be applied as an NCPO executive action “because that is just not legitimate.”
He added that this was not the first time Prayut had been accused of violating Section 113.
An activist, Chalard Worachat, had earlier filed the same charge against Prayut, but it had been rejected by the Civil Court.
