SOME 17 suspects have been charged with setting up a secret society – an act Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha described as a bid to set up “a state within” the military-ruled state.
A lawyer for the suspects said this had happened because there was no evidence to prove they were involved in a spate of bomb and arson attacks in seven southern provinces last week.
“Can you set up a state within a state? No – it’s wrong,” Prime Minister Prayut said yesterday, in response to questions from reporters about arrest warrants issued for the accused.
Some 15 of the suspects, aged from 39 to 71 years old and arrested since August 13 in the wake of bomb attacks in key tourist provinces, were reportedly associated with the Revolutionary Front for Democracy. The 15 remain in detention as their lawyer could not proceed with bail request in time yesterday. .
Their lawyer, Winyat Chartmontri, tried to post at least Bt100,000 as bond for each of the accused.
Investigators who interrogated the suspects yesterday opposed their bid to be released, saying they were a risk of fleeing. All of the accused rejected the charge of setting up a secret society and criminal association, as well as violating the military’s ban on political gatherings.
Initially, 17 suspects were detained at the 11th Military Circle in Bangkok but two – Pol Second Lt Wilawan Khoonsawat and Pol Lieutenant Samai Khoonsawat – were released for unknown reasons before warrants to arrest them were issued on Thursday. Police have vowed to re-arrest them.
One of the suspects, Sorasak Dispreecha, faces an additional charge of unauthorised possession of weapons, police said.
Pol Maj General Chayapol Chatchaiyadej, who heads the National Police Office’s Counter Crime Planning Division, said yesterday that these suspects had been working on a plan to set up a political party since last year. They had plotted to overthrow the government and to embrace communism, he said.
Setting up a political party and political activities have been prohibited since the 2014 coup but a law banning communism was abolished in 2000.
According to Chayapol, the suspects attended meetings in various provinces including Nonthaburi, Suphan Buri, Angthong and Phatthalung. “But we can’t disclose details yet,” he said.
Chayapol said this group of suspects had no connection to the spate of bomb and arson attacks that rocked Prachuap Khiri Khan and six southern provinces including tourist spots such as Phuket, Hua Hin and Phang Nga last week.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said the suspects had plotted to rise against the government and the National Council for Peace and Order. “We have worked on their case for a long time,” he said.
Lawyers for the suspects revealed that they were arrested over messages on their Line application chat group.
Winyat, who is a lawyer from Free Thai Legal Aid and the defendant lawyer for this case, said he was now working to get all 15 suspects freed. “As far as I’ve been informed, the suspects were arrested on an unfair charge against them,” he said.
Police got evidence for the claim from the mobile phone of one of the suspects and found that they had chat group on Line to discuss political issues, the lawyer said.
“They should not be arrested because the nature of a ‘criminal association’ charge is that suspects need to gather in real [life] and function like an association. But discussion in an online chat group is not ‘associating’,” he said.
“I doubt the officers’ investigation process, as at first red shirts were framed as suspects for the Mothers’ Day bomb attacks. But when they couldn’t find any evidences that linked them to the bomb attacks, the police accused them with this nonsense allegation instead.”
He also criticised the police for arbitrarily taking information from a mobile phone without the owner’s consent or having a search warrant.
Meanwhile, National Police Office’s deputy spokesman Pol Colonel Krissana Pattanacharoen said the investigation into last week’s attacks had progressed significantly.
So far, he said an arrest warrant had been issued just one for suspect – Ahama Lengha, a fugitive from Tak Bai in Narathiwat. “We are still trying to locate him,” Krissana said.
Meanwhile Chiang Mai resident Sakharin Karuehas, who was wrongly detained for an arson attack on a department store in Phuket last week, was released on Thursday night after a special deal to help the government. But police declined to disclose any details of the deal.
