Court to rule on anti-monarchy case against Pita, Move Forward on Jan 31
The Constitutional Court said it will deliver a verdict in an anti-monarchy case against former Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat and the party at the end of January.
The Office of the Constitutional Court said the court had interrogated two witnesses from the defence side on Monday and decided to set January 31 as the date of the verdict.
Pita and Move Forward leader Chaithawat Tulathon were the two witnesses interrogated.
Thirayut Suwankesorn, the complainant, had named Pita as the first defendant and Move Forward as the second defendant.
Thirayut claimed the bill was cited in the Move Forward election campaigns, and that Pita and the party continued campaigning against the law.
He alleged that Pita and Move Forward’s actions were tantamount to seeking to overthrow Thailand’s constitutional monarchy.
After hearing Pita and Chaithawat’s testimonies, the court announced that the nine judges will meet at 9.30am on January 31 to deliver their individual decisions, which will be used for the final verdict to be read at 2pm on the same day.
The court will announce its verdict on this case on January 24.
Speaking to reporters after delivering his testimony in court on Monday, Pita declined to speculate on the results of the two cases.
All he said was that he had done his best to defend himself and the party in the two cases, adding that he had proposed an amendment to Article 112, as it was being wrongly used against political opponents.
Pita said if the court ruled in his favour, he would return to perform his duty as an MP. Otherwise, he would continue working for the party and the people without a political position.
