<p>Doctors who examined the body of a soldier who allegedly died from ill-treatment during military training testified that he was left drowning for at least five minutes.</p>
<p>The Civil Court on Ratchadaphisek Road, Bangkok, held witness hearings from 13-15 June 2017 on the death of Sub Lt Sanan Thongdinok, who drowned to death on 6 June 2015 while swimming as part of the King’s Guard Regiment training course.</p>
<p>Leading Thai architects and the national association of engineers have denounced the use of Section 44 to speed up the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway line project between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima, pointing out that it puts public safety at risk.</p>
<p>“The use of the special law as an exception to building an approach to good governance … may cause confusion and mistrust in the rush to implement the project,” reads <a href="http://eit.or.th/picture-training/press-release.pdf">the statement of the Engineering Institute of Thailand Under H.M. the King’s Patronage (EIT)</a>.</p>
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<div>Following his controversial invitation for public feedback on his four questions, Prayut has now posed 50 more ‘issues to think about’.</div>
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<div>Over the past month, Thai civil society and the social media alike have lambasted Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha for posing via television <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/7186">four questions on elections</a> for the people to answer <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/7185">through submissions</a> at state offices.
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<p>The police have summoned for questioning the leaders of a protest against revisions of the healthcare law. Meanwhile, the authorities have announced that the amendment process will go ahead despite opposition from numerous groups. </p>
<p>On 18 June 2017, about 300 members of the People's Health Systems Movement (PHSM) and other associated organisations gathered at a public forum on the amendment of the 2002 National Health Security Act at the Centara Government Complex Hotel on Chaengwattana Rd., Bangkok.</p>
<p>An anti-junta activist has accused AIS, one of Thailand’s biggest mobile phone service providers, of unlawfully revealing private information about him.</p>
<p>Piyarat ‘Toto’ Chongthep, an anti-junta activist, told the media during his trial on 14 June 2017 at Prakhanong Provincial Court in Bangkok that AIS illegally gave private information about him to the authorities.</p>
<p>He said that during the trial, an AIS staff member who was called to testify revealed information about his whereabouts and of two other accused, including mobile banking information before and after 7 August 2016.</p>
<div>Just a day after the arrest of a suspect in the recent hospital bombing case, another minor blast wet off in Bangkok leaving one injured. </div>
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<div>On 16 June 2017, <a href="https://www.khaosod.co.th/breaking-news/news_400711">a bomb went off</a> on Sukhumvit Road between Sois 40 and 42 in front of the UNESCO office, injuring a female street cleaner. Police investigators found a bag at the scene containing an object wrapped in black tape.</div>
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<div>The explosion occurred when the cleaner tried to open the bag.
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<p dir="ltr">A national park official has accused the owner of an elephant camp of making lèse majesté comments at a press briefing about missing elephants. </p>
<p dir="ltr">On 15 June 2017, Chaiwat Limlikhitaksorn, former superintendent of Kaeng Krachan National Park,<a href="https://www.matichon.co.th/news/582004"> filed a complaint</a> under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, against Laithongrian M., owner of an elephant camp in Ayutthaya Province.</p>
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<div>On 15 June 2017, <a href="https://www.matichon.co.th/news/582020">a 62-year-old man was</a> arrested in Bangkok and detained at the 11th Military Circle. He is suspected of being involved in last month’s bombing at the Army’s Phramongkutklao Hospital.</div>
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<div>The authorities searched the suspect’s house and found materials such as plastic tubes, wires, circuits and nails. The investigation will continue since the authorities believe that there are others involved in the bombing.</div>
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<div>The blast went off on 22 May 2017.
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<p>Military has attempted to ban a book about the rice subsidy programme authored by politicians from the Pheu Thai Party.</p>
<p>On 14 June 2017, Gen Chalermchai Sittisad, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army, <a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=4396">spoke to the media</a> about <a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/7208">a visit to the house of Yuttapong Charasathien</a>, a former Pheu Thai MP and Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, by eight soldiers on 11 June.</p>
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<div>Thai people are going to local government offices to answer Prayut's four questions on elections. But one Pheu Thai politician has had the privilege of being visited by a group of soldiers demanding his answers.</div>
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<div>On 11 June 2017, eight soldiers visited Yuttapong Charasathien, a former Pheu Thai MP and Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, at his house in Maha Sarakham.
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<div>The Rural Doctors’ Association (RDA) has criticised the junta’s plans to amend the National Health Security Act, arguing it has overlooked the interests of the people.</div>
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<div>On 12 June 2017, the RDA released a statement lambasting the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) for turning its back on past commitments to universal health.</div>
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<div>The junta’s proposed revisions to the National Health Security Act threaten to abolish Thailand’s universal healthcare, also known as the "Gold Card" medical scheme.
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<p dir="ltr">The junta’s cabinet has given the greenlight to the Ministry of Defence to spend 2.3 billion baht for buying tanks from China.</p>
<p dir="ltr">On 13 June 2017, the cabinet approved 2.3 billion baht budget for buying 34 VN-1 tanks from the People’s Republic of China according to <a href="http://news.voicetv.co.th/thailand/498499.html">Voice TV</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The government claimed that the procurement is necessary for replacing the obsolete tanks.</p>