Pravit Rojanaphruk, a veteran journalist and provocative critic of the Thai military from The Nation newspaper, has been detained incommunicado since Sunday.
At 2 pm on Sunday, Pravit reported to the military at the 1st Army Area after two military officers on Saturday went to his house with the intention of detaining him, but did not find him. He was accompanied by Pawinee Chumsri, a lawyer from the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, and Pokpong Lawansiri, a human rights officer from the United Nations.
“Two military officers went to my place, but I wasn’t there. The junta has my phone number, why didn’t they call me? I will never flee!” tweeted Pravit on
@Pravitr twitter account at 2 pm on Saturday.
Pawinee told Prachatai that at 4 pm on Sunday, the military told her that Pravit had been taken to another Army base, but did not reveal the location. The military also did not reveal the purpose or the period of detention.
The lawyer observed that overnight detention is unnecessary. If the military found that Pravit had been too bold in criticizing the junta, a reprimand in a meeting could be enough.
In May 2014, only two days after the coup d’état, the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) summoned Pravit and detained him at an Army base in western Ratchaburi Province for seven days.
Pravit, 48, has been a fierce critic of the military, the establishment and Article 112 or the lèse majesté law.
Meanwhile, The Nation Group on Monday
urged the military to immediately release Pravit. The Nation’s Group Editor-in-Chief Thepchai Yong yesterday called for Pravit’s immediate release. "There is no justification whatsoever for his detention," The Nation quoted Thepchai as saying.
