Statement by the 19 Sept Anti-coup Network

concerning the detention of Mr. Sombat Boon-ngam-anong

The Criminal Court approved the detention of Mr. Sombat Boon-ngam-anong, leader of the Citizens Against Coup Group for 12 days as requested by the police in relation to the libel suit filed by Lt. Gen. Saprang Kalayanamitr who accused Mr. Sombat of "committing the offence of defamation by means of publication of a document, drawing, painting, ... or propagation by other means". The charge was made as a result of the darts game organized by the Citizens Against Coup Group during their demonstration at Sanam Luang. It was claimed that Mr. Sombat "used disrespectful portraits of General Saprang and Gen. Sondhi in their untoward actions (for demonstrators to throw darts at) causing damage to the two parties, including being loathed and dishonoured".

In pursuance to this case, the 19 Sept Network would like make known the following:

1. We maintain that Lt. Gen. Saprang and his cronies under the name of the "Council for Democratic Reform under the Constitutional Monarchy" have falsely claimed legitimacy from the monarchy to commit the coup on 19 September 2006. This action is a blatant offence under Section 113 of the Penal Code which states that;

"Whoever commits an act of violence or threatens to commit an act of violence in order to:

(1) overthrow or change the Constitution

(2) overthrow a legislative power, the executive power or the judicial power of the Constitution, or nullify such power; or

(3) separate the Kingdom or seize power of administration in any part of the Kingdom

is said to commit insurrection, and shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life"

Therefore, the act of civil disobedience committed by Mr. Sombat Boon-ngam-anong against an illegitimate action is not only legal, but also a justified exercise of constitutional rights provided for by both Section 65 of the 1997 Constitution and Section 69 of the 2007 Constitution, which states that "A person shall have the right to resist peacefully any act committed for the acquisition of the power to rule the country by a means which is not in accordance with the modes provided in this Constitution."

2. We deem that the detention order by the Criminal Court shows that the Thai justice system has been all along founded on the principle of "power is righteousness, but righteousness is power". As a result, the police simply become an apparatus for the powers that be to use legal loopholes to abet the violation of people's rights. Meanwhile, the court is similarly used to legitimize the illegal actions.

Last but not least, we maintain that the case is not a personal libel between Lt. Gen. Saprang Kalayanamitr vs. Mr. Sombat Boon-ngam-anong, but a battle between the blatant offence of the coup versus the civil right to oppose coups and to freedom of expression. A judgment that endorses the victory of the coup makers will simply show that the courts have become part of the efforts to legitimize illegal actions.

The 19 Sept Anti-coup Network

2 September 2007