THE 39 PEOPLE accused of illegal assembly while demanding an election by November have postponed their meeting with police until next Thursday, where they will be notified of the charges against them.

About 20 of the accused showed up at the Pathum Wan Police Station yesterday in response to the police summons. They were accompanied by more than 10 human rights lawyers.

Police have accused the 39 of violating the Public Assembly Act for taking part in a demonstration on the skywalk above the Pathum Wan intersection on January 27.

Seven of the 39, who are deemed leaders of the protest, have also been accused of violating the junta ban on political gatherings and instigating public disturbance.

The protesters were opposing any attempt to delay the next election, earlier promised by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to be held in November.

According to a source, the case investigators will issue a second summons to the 39 accused to meet them by next Thursday to formally hear the charges against them. If they fail to show up before the deadline, arrest warrants will be issued, the source said.

The accused who showed up at the Pathum Wan Police Station yesterday consulted with their lawyers and agreed to postpone until next Thursday reporting to the police in response to the summons, according to one of the lawyers.

Yesterday there was an unusual presence of many high-ranking police officers at the police station and talk of a police request for court detention of the accused. Some of them were afraid they would be unable to find sureties to get bail by yesterday and could be detained over the weekend, the source said.

Bail to be opposed

Meanwhile, deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Ransibhramanakul yesterday said the investigators would oppose bail for the 39 accused when they turn up in response to the summons.

He said the police would seek a court order for their detention while the investigation is under way.

Srivara also said that police have requested the Anti-Money Laundering Office to investigate possible secret funding for the protesters. However, so far no information has been found.

Watcharapol said the NACC meeting resolved the issue yesterday, agreeing to submit the explanation to the court, and insisting that the NACC commissioners’ terms do not violate the charter.

This is because the provisional chapter allows the National Legislative Assembly to decide the fate of members of independent organisations, Watcharapol said.

However, Watcharapol added, it is up to the court to decide on the case.

The Constitutional Court last Friday accepted a petition by some NLA members, asking it to review whether amendments to an approved anti-graft law were constitutional.

The court is examining an amendment made by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) concerning the qualifications of the current National Anti Corruption Commissioners.

The Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) had originally drafted the NACC law governing the body, allowing NACC commissioners to remain in office only if they met qualifications or were not disqualified as stipulated in the charter.

The NLA then passed the organic law, amending it with the waiver of some disqualifications of the body’s members addressed in the charter, resulting in all members remaining in office.

Some 32 NLA members decided to propose that its president forward their petition to the court, asking it to rule whether the amended law is constitutional or not.

Watcharapol, and some other NACC commissioners have had their qualifications questioned; they either lacked qualifications or had areas of disqualification under the charter.

The Court has required representatives of the NLA, the CDC, and the NACC to submit their explanations by February 5.

‘No plan to resign’

Watcharapol has also dismissed calls demanding he resign from the top post, saying he entered the office legitimately, under the terms of the 2007 charter as well as the 1999 NACC law.

He was determined to work hard, and would not be sensitive to every issue that arises, Watcharapol |said.

“We can be both liked or disliked, and if we do not hold firm on what we are, we would easily step back, and the country would not move forwards,” said Watcharapol.

“If he was qualified, he should be given a chance to work, he said. If he was not qualified, there was a legal procedure to pursue against him, and he was ready to leave.

The annual parade is a highlight of the annual match between the prestigious Chulalongkorn and Thammasat universities. This year’s event – the 72nd since it was first held in 1945 – takes place today.

Since the 2014 coup and after student activists from both universities have played a critical role against the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), there have been efforts by the ruling regime, through executives of both universities, to screen the content of the satirical parade.

The parade features banners with satirical messages and papier-mache caricatures lampooning political figures.

Lattapon Yimlamai, the leader of Thammasat University’s political satire club, said yesterday that the university’s executives had sought the club’s cooperation to not target individuals or organisations.

The executives wanted the parade to be constructive rather than critical, he said.

“There have been no direct orders to ban some content. But I have heard that the university’s executives had expressed concern over some issues such as the watch and diamond ring scandal,” said Lattapon, who is a junior political science student.

He was apparently referring to the scandal affecting Deputy Premier and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan. Lattapon said that he would rather that people watched the satire and decided for themselves whether the content this year was less harsh than usual, given the current atmosphere.

“But anything everyone expects to see, they will see,” he said.

Students responsible for a similar parade from the Chulalongkorn side, said that the perceived right-leaning university had no such a thing as a “political satire parade” but rather it had a “social issue” parade.

Requesting anonymity, the student said that the university executives had made it clear they did not want politics as part of the show.

But since this year’s parade was the responsibility of political science students, they had negotiated to have one of the three parade figures address political issues, she said.

Plea to avoid ‘scandal’

“The figure, of course, was wearing a watch and a diamond ring. But the draft was screened by the executives and we were asked to remove them,” she said.

The student said the watch and the diamond ring were taboo in the parades of both universities.

“I think the NCPO may have discussed that with both universities and so we have received similar notes to not touch the scandal,” she said.

A notice appearing to have originated with Chulalongkorn University was circulated online yesterday, banning any activities that deviated from football or were against the law.

The notice instructed students to be mindful of the university’s reputation and any impact unfavourable activities could bring and to follow strictly the orders of teachers. In previous years, student members of the Chulalongkorn Community for the People (CCP) have held up banners with political messages condemning the coup and demanding the release of lese majeste prisoners such as Somyot Prueksakasemsuk.

Assoc Professor Orapan Poachanukoon, Thammasat University’s vice rector in charge of student affairs, maintained yesterday that the university has never restricted the students’ freedom of expression.

She rejected a report that Thammasat’s executives asked its students to avoid lampooning a particular political issue and a particular government leader in their parade, after a request from the military.

“That report is untrue,” Orapan said in a statement.

“As long as the juvenile power is expressed within the legal limit and for the public interest, all their expressions should be protected. This is part of a long tradition and the spirit of the Thammasat community that we have upheld and believed in,” she said.

Meanwhile, NCPO spokesman Maj-General Piyapong Klinpan denied any role in banning political content in the parade.

He said the military was well aware of the political satire in the show and was not irritated. The content would be screened by the university committees anyway, he added.

The military only offered security service for the event, Piyapong said.

Another NCPO spokesman, Colonel Winthai Suvaree, said it was common for the military to seek cooperation from the universities and asked that the parade be constructive.

Head of the National Human Rights Commission, What Tingsmith, said yesterday the satirical parade was not a political movement and would have no impact on the government.

Whether or not any restriction in the parade would be a violation of rights and freedom, was an issue that needed to be noted, he said.

Almost as soon as Prawit commented on Wednesday that he would step down if people did not want him, several sites – including the Teenee Thai PBS news programme on public broadcasting channel Thai PBS – launched online polls asking people to cast votes on whether Prawit should stay or go.

Yesterday, the third day of polling, saw a surge in the number of people calling for Prawit to resign, with some polls scoring almost 190,000 votes.

Teenee Thai PBS Facebook Page asked people to weigh in during the 24 hours, from the evening of January 31 through February 1, and learned that 184,000 people, or 96 per cent out of 192,000 participants, voted for Prawit to leave office. Another 8,500 (4 per cent) wanted him to stay.

Child-rights activist Thicha Nanakorn started a petition on Change.org, calling on Prawit to resign, with 50,000 people signing up to support her campaign as of press time yesterday.

The CSI LA Facebook page, which exposed to the public the photos of 25 luxury watches worn by Prawit, saw 7,815, or 55 per cent of 14,326 people vote for Prawit to quit.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), meanwhile, expects to finish summoning witnesses in relation to the case by February, said NACC president Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit.

Depending on the findings, the NACC could set up an official panel to investigate the case or seek more evidence or witnesses.

The NACC, he said, cannot discuss the issue at this point.

Pol General Watcharapol said the recent announcement by Prawit had nothing to do with the NACC’s work as it is political.

The NACC would stick to its work procedures and if Prawit resigned it would not affect the NACC’s probe in any way, Watcharapol said.

Prawit’s watch controversy has been seen a problem for Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government as social media has closely scrutinised his approximately 25 luxury wristwatches.

Following the scrutiny, and the filing of complaints, the NACC initiated an investigation of Prawit’s luxury watches, some of which reportedly cost Bt3 million.

Prawit declared assets of about Bt83 million to the NACC when he joined Prayut’s government in 2014, but failed to declare the watches he has been seen wearing since late last year.

In the course of the investigation, he told the anti-graft agency that friends had lent him the watches.

The controversy began when Prawit was first spotted wearing what appeared to be a silver and black Richard Mille watch and diamond ring during a December 4 group photo with the new Cabinet at Government House. His possession of other luxury watches has been exposed since.

Meanwhile, more demonstrations emerged against the junta following the Prawit watch scandal.

The protesters were taken to the police station immediately afterwards.

A group of four unidentified men took to the skywalk over the Victory Movement on Friday, holding banners critical of Prawit and the regime.

The activists all wore comic masks resembling Prawit with the message “Get Out”.

They demanded that Prawit honour his word and resign after online polls suggested he should quit.

The deputy PM, who is also the government’s law expert, said entertainment during election campaigns had been allowed in the past but discarded because they caused advantages and disadvantages among parties.

The cost of the activities, Wissanu said, was also hard to calculate and monitor.

However, whether to keep the amendment in the bill would depend now on a joint law review committee, if one were set up after the bill is reviewed bill by government bodies.

Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn on Wednesday posted a message on his Facebook account, saying an NLA member had called him proposing the EC raise objections to the point.

In Somchai’s view, if a joint law review committee was set up as a result of the objection to the bill as passed, it would take another month to finish the process, resulting to another one-month delay to the bill’s 90-day enforcement.

Bills are normally enforced immediately after proclamation. But in a controversial move, the NLA last month amended the bill to delay enforcement for 90 days, thus delaying the upcoming election from November this year to February 2019.

NL whip Jet Siratharanont said the legislative body, hand-picked by the junta, has no knowledge about Somchai’s claims. But if there was an NLA member calling him, he would reply that it is up to the EC to judge whether to take up the idea or not.

“I have no knowledge about this issue, and we have never overstepped other organisations. The NLA and the government could never have lobbied the EC, said Jet.

Chatchawawn Prabbamrung, 49, Taweechai Vichakham, 43, Sunthorn Piphuannok, 53, and Somsri Marit, 44, were accused of contempt of murder as well as violation of gun weapons laws.

They were accused of firing grenades at the protestors in the middle of the night of February 8, 2013 and again against a crowd on April 10, 2013. A small number of protestors were injured as a result.

However, most of the plaintiff’s witnesses were police officers who said they did not directly witness the incidents, but were told about them by other parties.

The injured protestors also did not see their attackers.

Other police officers at the scene were unable to locate the origin of the shots fired.

The court therefore ruled to dismiss the case due to insufficient witnesses and evidence.

However, the four were previously sentenced to life, reduced from an execution sentence, for firing at protestors from the same group in Ratchadamri in the same year.

In a separate case, another defendant, who also fired grenades at the protestors of the same group in front of the Shinawatra Tower on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, was sentenced to 35 years and five months by the Supreme Court.

While the Administrative Court on Monday rejected Yingluck’s request for an injunction against the administrative order, which in effect allows authorities to resume the seizure of her assets, the former prime minister could have her lawyer submit a new request, he said.

Of the 30 assets listed in regards to the issue, the confiscation of her Bt110-million mansion in Bangkok could be delayed if she could prove it is a marriage property, acquired after her wedding, and had to be shared with her husband, he said.

“People who are living in the house can stay on, but need permission from authorities or have to pay rent,” said Wissanu, a government legal expert.

Yingluck’s lawyer Noppadon Laothong said earlier her mansion in the capital was among the assets that had been confiscated to pay the compensation demanded for damages stemming from her government’s rice-pledging scheme. The Legal Execution Department, which is under the Justice Ministry, in July last year started freezing the ex-premier’s bank accounts and placing liens over several of her properties.

Among her assets are 10 land plots in Bangkok and the provinces, her mansion in Bangkok’s Soi Nawamin 111, a condominium suite and 13 bank accounts with total deposits of more than Bt1 million.

In a financial report submitted to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Yingluck estimated that the mansion, where she had lived before fleeing the country last August, was worth Bt110 million. It was the highest-valued item among her reported assets.

In October 2016, the Finance Ministry issued an administrative order for Yingluck to pay Bt35 billion in compensation for damages allegedly stemming from her government’s corruption-plagued rice-pledging scheme. Yingluck was held responsible for the damages in her capacity as government head and chair of the National Rice Policy Committee.

Yingluck fled the country a few days before the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders was scheduled to deliver a verdict in a case against her in the rice-pledging case. A month later, the court sentenced her in absentia to five years in jail for negligence.

She was later spotted in London around the New Year holidays. Asked if the government could auction Yingluck’s confiscated properties, Wissanu said it could but the Legal Execution Department has decided to put the idea on hold since the ownership of many assets was still unclear.

“Her lawyer might make another appeal to suspend the confiscation. There are |people living in the house. We cannot just force them out,” he said. “We will enforce the law properly and accordingly, not desperately.”

The protest was led by pro-democracy activist Nutta Mahuttana at the Siam Paragon shopping mall’s Parc Paragon.

Nutta covered her mouth with duct tape, symbolising silence brought by the coup-installed regime and demonstrating that silence was not peace, but suppression.

During the protest, the participants made different hand gestures demonstrating oppression and the fight against it.

Siam Paragon yesterday closed its Parc Paragon section and erected placards saying the park was private property and that the mall did not allow any activity against the law.

Security guards blocked Nutta from holding the activity in the vicinity of the mall.

Nutta told the press the lawsuit would not stop activists from attempting to bring down the undemocratic government.

“I hold this activity today, standing in silence for 30 minutes, to show everyone whether silence is the same as peace or how uncomfortable it would be to be silenced.”

Nutta and six other activists had earlier been charged with sedition and violation of a political ban.

The charges followed the demonstration on Saturday that called for the junta to step down and hold an election after the regime enacted a bill that could potentially put off the promised election by three months.

At least 39 protesters have been charged for violating the Public Assembly Act.

Police have “some information” regarding suspected financiers behind anti-regime protesters, the national police chief said yesterday.

Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda said that he had instructed investigators to gather more information about people suspected of providing financial support to the protesters, and also about the trail of the money.

“I can’t tell now about the size of the financial support. We need more information,” Chakthip said.

The national police chief also said he had no concern about the protests and dissident activities that have taken place over the past weeks.

“Police have a duty to enforce the law. It’s the demonstrators who have to be worried,” he said.

In a related development, the Pheu Thai Party yesterday said the government and ruling junta have lost the legitimacy to rule the country, and therefore have to “return power to the people” as soon as possible.

In its statement released yesterday, the previous ruling party slammed the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s administration.

Pheu Thai said that since it came to power after the 2014 coup, the junta has failed to solve the nation’s longstanding problems. Instead, the military-supported government has created new issues that would become future crises, it said.

The party said people’s rights and freedoms have been restricted as the junta and its head exercised their powers in issuing several orders.

In the meantime, they have failed to solve economic woes, while corruption has continuously been in the news, reflecting its failure to tackle corruption. Some corruption allegations have been put to an end quickly without serious probes, Pheu Thai claimed.

Junta leader Prayut has a credibility crisis as he cannot live up to his words, Pheu Thai said. In the party’s view, the junta and the government are not sincere about returning power to the people.

However, there would be a problem or delay if the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) later disagreed with the joint panel and voted down the bills.

The two bills recently received the NLA’s endorsement, including amendments suggested by its law vetting committees that caused changes to the original versions drafted by the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC).

The critical impact of those changes is to delay the enforcement of the MP election bill to 90 days, resulting in the initially scheduled November election date being delayed to February 2019.

In the senate bill, the changes also include the waiver of a critical measure of a cross-selection among 20 professional guilds that the CDC had proposed as a key prevention of collusion that would corrupt the selection process.

Having passed the NLA’s endorsement, the amended bills are now passed on to concerned parties, for their review. The CDC will review the constitutionality of the bills as amended. If they raise a point of constitutionality and oppose the bills, another joint law-review committee would then be set up accordingly.

CDC chief Meechai Ruchupan said the CDC has now received the two bills for consideration and would have time until February 9 to consider them before deciding whether to endorse them.

Meechai’s own opinion is that the NLA’s reason for delaying the enforcement of the MP election bill to 90 days is acceptable, but the CDC needs to look into its practicality, especially in regards to primary voting for which parties need time to prepare.

The CD would particularly look into the changes to the senate bill, which was primarily aimed at creating a people’s forum with representatives selected from various fields. The NLA’s law-vetting committee reduced the number of these fields or “guilds” from 20 to 10 groups, a change adopted by a vote of the NLA.

Meechai said the ongoing law review is unlikely to result in the election being cancelled, but if the CDC felt it had to change the reviewed bills and the NLA subsequently rejected the CDC’s changes, the NLA is the body that must be responsible for the consequences.

A group of 40 people supporting Prawit showed up in front of the Defence Ministry on Thursday.

The group, said to have come from various provinces including Bangkok, was welcomed by General Rungroj Chamrasromerun, Prawit’s vice minister.

Prawit was caught up in work and could not receive the crowd himself, but the deputy PM passed on his thanks to the supporters, Rungroj said.

After almost two months of criticism and scandal plaguing Prawit over his possession of a large number of luxury watches, Prawit on Wednesday said he would quit if the people did not want him anymore.

Netizens have been conducting polls online to gauge the public’s opinion about whether they wanted Prawit to remain in the Cabinet.

A campaign on change.org has been launched and more than 18,000 people had agreed that Prawit should resign.

A Facebook survey by state-funded station Thai PBS found more than 90 per cent of 70,000 respondents wanted Prawit to leave.