9 Jan 2008 At Metropolitan Police Headquarters, Deputy Metropolitan Police Commander Pol Maj Gen Jate Mongkolhattee, in his capacity as leader of the investigating team, called a 2-hour meeting to follow up on progress in the case of the group who climbed the fence of parliament on 12 December 007 to call for the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) to halt deliberations.
Pol Maj Gen Jate said that investigators had collected clear evidence in the form of documents, pictures and witness statements. This was sufficient to seek the court's permission to issue arrest warrants on 14 January on 4 charges against the leaders of the group. These are: trespass using violence by collaborating with more than 21 persons to commit an offence; gathering with more than 10 persons to use force to create a public disturbance; gathering more than 5 persons to force others to act against their will; and illegal detention. The maximum punishment is 5 years imprisonment.
"For the remaining persons involved, we have to wait for additional investigation of the evidence before we can make arrests in this case," the head of the investigation team said.
News reports said that it was expected that the list of the leaders who would be served with arrest warrants at this time included Jon Ungphakorn, former Senator for Bangkok.
Former Senator Jon Ungphakorn and other leaders of the group said that they thought they should be served subpoenas rather than arrest warrants since before arrest warrants are issued, the accused must be summoned to hear the charges and make a statement. If the Royal Thai Police proceeds in this way, the accused have a team of lawyers ready to contest the charges. None of the group has fled and they are prepared to face the accusations and fight the case.
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