FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Call to hasten probe into PDRC sedition allegations

Call to hasten probe into PDRC sedition allegations

The lawyer for a prominent red-shirt leader filed a petition to the Department of Special Investigation on Wednesday, asking the body to speed up its inquiries into 58 people from the defunct People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) accused of committing sedition.

Winyat Chartmontri, lawyer to the red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan, said that 30 of the defendants appeared to have been dragging out the case, resulting in a two-year investigation that was going nowhere.
The PDRC figures, led by Suthep Thaugsuban, have been accused of committing sedition and eight other offences after they occupied government places in 2013 and 2014 as part of the months-long protest against the then-government of Yingluck Shinawatra.
The case started in 2015 with indictments by four prosecutors, but Winyat said little progress had been made so far.
Winyat had filed petitions to the Office of Attorney General (AGO) to accelerate the case twice.
Last Tuesday, the AGO-affiliated Department of Special Litigation asked the DSI director-general, Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, to speed up the investigation.
In the petition, Winyat said that the DSI should be quick to submit witnesses’ testimonies to prosecutors. “I don’t know what still obstructs this case. If the DSI officers are negligent, further legal measures may be taken,” he said.
His petition was received by DSI investigator Tatchakorn Annoppetch, who said that he would have to evaluate the petition before forwarding it for consideration by the DSI chief.

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