[Update]: Thai police arrest one of the 14 anti-junta activists

[Update]: At 12am on Sunday, 16 August 2015, the police officers at Pathumwan Police Station released, Songtham Kaewpanpruk, aka. Dave, one of the members of the 14 anti-junta activists, without conditions after he was held under custody from 2am-12am.   

The Thai police arrested one of the well known 14 anti-junta activists after returning from overseas.

According to Rangsiman Rome, one of the 14 anti-junta activists, at an early hour of Sunday, 16 August 2015, the immigration police of Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok arrested Songtham Kaewpanpruk, aka. Dave, another member of the 14 activists.

Dave was arrested upon his arrival to Thailand after spending his holiday in Malaysia. After being arrested by the immigration police, the police officers from Pathumwan Police Station in central Bangkok brought him to the police station in accordance to an arrest warrant issued against him.  

Dave and 13 other anti-junta activists were recently released in early July. They were detained for nearly two weeks for holding events to peacefully commemorate the 2014 coup d’état in central Bangkok and the northeastern province of Khon Kaen on 22 May 2015.

During the confrontation with the police officers on the commemoration of the coup in May, Dave was assaulted and hospitalized at Hua Chiew Hospital. He was punched in the face and kicked in the chest.   

Despite their release, the 14 activists still have to stand trial for allegedly breaking the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 3/2015, which prohibits any political gathering of five or more persons and Article 116 of the Thai Penal Code, the sedition law. If found guilty, they could face up to 7 years imprisonment.

Although the group still have to face trials for their anti-junta activities, they vow to fight on for democracy after their release.

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