By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT was today (Nov.10) criticised for only listening to one side of a story spun against a trio of monarchical reformists and finally passed a ruling to keep them at bay.
The Constitutional Court concluded that last year’s speeches delivered to the public by pro-monarchical reform activists Anon Nampa, Panupong Jadnok and Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, or Rung, “undermined the rule with the Monarch as head of state” and insisted that they must no longer do so.
Anon and Panupong, who are currently detained in jail under lese majeste lawsuits, better known as Criminal Code Section 112, were not allowed to appear in court whereas Rung protested by walking out of the courtroom after requests for hearings of the defendants’ witnesses had been bluntly denied by court.
Rung told reporters that the Constitutional Court only chose to listen to the plaintiff’s accusations and never to lend an ear to the defendants who, she said, should have been allowed to manifest their rationales for sought-after monarchical reforms in court.
The woman activist contended that she and her colleagues had merely looked to have the monarchy reformed to the extent that the King be invariably regarded as the people’s spiritual centre and be completely and practically void and free of any political influences.
She said such far-fetched ideologies were by no means designed to undermine the rule with the Monarch as head of state but were merely meant to uphold and preserve it.
She said the defendants had always stood up for the world-recognised principle of “the King can do no wrong”, thus pushing for monarchical reforms to the extent that the Monarch be spared of all possible wrongdoings.
One of the 10 demands raised in vain by the trio under the name of the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration calls for the King to never give a retroactive endorsement for military coups which should be undeniably viewed as a forceful act of undermining the democratic rule with the Monarch as head of state, according to the woman activist.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Mike, Rung and Anon. Photo: Matichon
Home Page: Constitutional Court Emblem. Photo: Siam Rath
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