The Criminal Court has dismissed charges of forming a criminal organisation and secret society against 45 We Volunteer protest guard group members who were arrested at a shopping mall before a protest on 6 March 2021.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reports that, on Monday (27 January), the Criminal Court dismissed charges against the 43 on the grounds that We Volunteer is not a secret society or a criminal organisation.

The Court noted that We Volunteer openly recruited members and that the trainings it held were about how to be a protest guard, perform first aid, and spot plainclothes police officers,  It said there was no evidence to prove that it trained members to commit crimes. Although a prosecution witness testified that We Volunteer members often clashed with the police, the Court ruled that the group never intentionally sought clashes but did so because of the situation.  It noted that their meeting held before the arrest was about purchasing an automated external defibrillator.

The Court terminated the proceeding against one of the protesters because the defendant had been charged in a separate case which had already been dismissed.

Another protester died during the proceedings, so the Court also struck their case from the list as well.

The Court further dismissed charges stemming from the Emergency Decree and Infectious Diseases Acts because the protesters were not gathering in a crowded place but rather were detained in a parking lot, an open space, while wearing face masks.

29 of the protesters had been charged with escaping custody because the detention trucks they were in were stopped by protesters and could not get to the police station. The charges were dismissed because the prosecution witness did not see the protesters escaped from the vehicles and because they turned themselves into Paholyothin Police Station, showing that they did not intend to run.

Several protesters were fined and given suspended prison sentences for being in possession of bulletproof vests and radios, both of which require permits to carry.

The We Volunteer protest guards were arrested by a SWAT unit in the parking lot of Major Ratchayothin shopping mall, when they were waiting to attend the 6 March 2021 protest march to the Criminal Court on Ratchapisek Road against the detention of pro-democracy activists.

TLHR noted that, during witness examination, lawyers questioned witnesses about police violence towards the protesters, many of whom said that they were threatened and beaten during their arrest, held at gunpoint, made to crawl on the ground, hit with helmets, and even forced to put flares in their mouths. The witnesses asserted the police did not use violence, and said it was normal in mass arrests to make detainees lie down on the ground.