No proof of undermining of monarchy in Thaksin case: court
Constitutional Court rejects petitioner’s case against justice minister, corrections and prison chiefs over former PM not spending time behind bars
The Constitutional Court on Wednesday voted unanimously to reject a complaint filed by a serial petitioner against the justice minister, the Corrections Department chief and the Bangkok Remand Prison chief.
The nine judges decided to reject political activist Kongdecha Chairat’s petition on grounds that he had failed to establish proof with facts and documents that the three defenders had violated the charter to undermine the monarchy.
In his complaint, Kongdecha accused Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong, director-general of the Corrections Department and chief of the Bangkok Remand Prison of abusing their authority to help former PM Thaksin Shinawatra spend his sentence in the comfort of a suite in the Police General Hospital instead of behind bars.
He alleged that the so-called preference given to Thaksin violated Article 246 of the Penal Code and Articles 27, 49 and 53 of the Constitution.
Kongdecha pointed out that Article 53 required the three officials to strictly enforce the law and ensure Thaksin was behind bars as ruled by the Supreme Court.
He said Article 27 required the three to respect the court’s independent power, which they failed to do by helping Thaksin escape the penalty handed down by the court. Kongdecha said violating Article 27 was tantamount to undermining the country’s constitutional monarchy and thus violating Article 49.
Kongdecha had first submitted this complaint at the Office of the Attorney-General on November 11 but then took it to the Constitutional Court after it was rejected.
On Wednesday, the nine Constitutional Court judges voted that Kongdecha’s allegations were unfounded and did not have strong and clear evidence.
The court ruled that the plaintiff did not prove that the three defendants had abused their authority to try and undermine or topple the constitutional monarchy.
