Five men report to police over charges for pro-Prawit gathering
Five men reported themselves to Phrarachawang police station in Bangkok’s Dusit district on Tuesday after their recent gathering in support of the scandal-plagued deputy prime minister, General Prawit Wongsuwan, was deemed to have broken a junta order and contravened the Public Assembly Act.
The charges against the five could ultimately land each of them with up to six months in prison and/or a maximum fine of Bt10,000.
The men, aged from 49 to 69, were summoned after they joined an assembly last Thursday to support Prawit, who has been in hot water for his unusual possession of several luxurious watches.
While all they did was participate in a small-scale gathering and hold up banners in support of the deputy PM, they are being charged with breaking the junta’s ban on political gatherings of five or more people.
Moreover, as the gathering was held in front of the Defence Ministry, located metres away from the Grand Palace compound, they have also been charged with breaking the Public Assembly Act, which prohibits public gatherings within a 150-metre radius of any of the Royal Palaces.
According to Pol Colonel Thanakrit Chaijaruwut, superintendent at Phrarachawang police station, the five men were “shocked” and never expected to be charged for holding banners containing no provocative wording.
They said they had decided to turn themselves in to the police in order to prove their innocence and had had no intention of instigating or triggering a situation in any political way, he said.
Police will next bring the five men before Dusit District Court for further prosecution of the case, he added.
“We’ve also ordered additional investigation of recordings from CCTV cameras and photographs. With that, we should be able to identify the rest of the roughly 30 participants and issue summonses accordingly,” the superintendent added.