Weekly Roundup | Prachatai English

White shirts show support for Feb 2 Election

A few hundred people wearing white t-shirts gathered at the Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre (BACC), Siam Square, on Sunday afternoon to voice their support for the February 2 election. They say the election will help end the political deadlock and bring peace to the country.

This is the third gathering of people who support the February 2 election at the BACC. The gathering was led by a group of artists, calling themselves “Ant’s Power.” The group marched around Siam Square, released white balloons and dispersed around Sunday evening.

The group leader, who asked not to be named due to privacy concerns, said because of the escalating intensity of Thai political conflicts, the activity was aimed at supporting the upcoming election and denouncing violence and attempts to lead the situation into violence.

Red shirts to rally on Jan 13

Nuttawut Saikua, pro-government red-shirt leader and Deputy Commerce Minister, said on Saturday that the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) planned to hold a rally to show support for the government on January 13, the same day as the planned “shut-down” of Bangkok by the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC). However, the rally will be organized across the country, outside of Bangkok and the South.

He said the protest will last only about three hours except in three important provinces in the Central Region, the North and the Northeast where the rallies will end at 10 pm. The UDD has not named the three provinces yet.

Prison sued over death of Uncle SMS

The wife of Ampon T., aka Uncle SMS, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Corrections at the Administrative Court on Thursday requesting the Department of Corrections to pay compensation of over two million baht as she believed his death was the result of misdemeanours by prison officials. A fund-raising campaign was earlier organized to help Ampon’s family with the court fee.

Ampon was sentenced to 20 years for allegedly sending four SMS messages deemed lèse majesté to the secretary of then PM Abhisit Vejjajiva. Denied bail eight times, he had been imprisoned for one year in 2011 before passing away in Bangkok Remand Prison on May 8, 2012.

Ampon’s wife, Rosmalin T., and lawyer believe that his death was the result of misdemeanours by prison officials in not providing proper medical care for Ampon, who already had liver cancer. Rosmalin filed a lawsuit requesting the Department of Corrections to pay compensation of 2,225,250 baht

The Human Rights Lawyer Association earlier raised funds to help Ampon’s wife with the legal fees for a lawsuit against the Department of Corrections in the Administrative Court, after the court on December 19 dismissed her request for a fee exemption, citing that Rosmalin’s bank account contained sufficient funds. She had to pay the 44,505 baht legal fee by January 3, 2014.

Poonsuk Poonsukcharoen, Rosmalin’s lawyer, said the lawsuit against the Department of Corrections was not intended primarily for the money, or punishment of the officers, but in the hope of improving the standards of healthcare in the prison infirmary.

Isan academics establish People’s Federation for Democracy

Anti-establishment academics and activists on Saturday announced the formal establishment of the People’s Federation for Democracy (PFD) at Khon Kaen University in Northeastern Khon Kaen province. The group is mostly composed of academics and activists who are red-shirt sympathisers based in the Northeast of Thailand.

The PFD statement denounces all kinds of coup d’état, and also declares the proposal of a People’s Council and national government is not acceptable.

The PFD is led by Luean Srisuphoe, Pichit Pitak, and Pongsuwan Sitisaena.

The group, originally composed of political scientists, has actually been active for about ten years.

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