On 30 January, Mongkol ‘Yale’ Sanimethakul was detained at the 11th Military Circle after he was charged with desertion by a military court and perjury by the police. The police said that they arrested him on 29 January when he was on the run. The court rejected a request for bail after an objection from the investigation officers.

When he was handcuffed by the military, a reporter asked him if there was anything he would like to say to other activists. He kept silent with an expression of indifference and was then put into an official vehicle. MCOT reported that no activists appeared to give him encouragement, unlike when he was found on 17 January after claiming to have been kidnapped by the authorities.

Mongkol ‘Yale’ Sanimethakul, 25, was a protest guard for Guard Ratsadon. He attended the political gatherings on 16 January at Victory Monument and later at Phya Thai Police Station and Samyan Mitrtown. After the protesters went home or got arrested, at 23.20, Mongkol posted on Facebook “Please help.”

His friends said they could not reach him so one of them went to his residence. He said people there had last seen him at 23.00. Messages were later sent from Mongkol’s phone to his friend. The sender claimed to be from the Internal Security Operations Command. His friends negotiated with the sender for his release.

On the afternoon of 17 January, Mongkol made an appearance with his friends claiming that he had been kidnapped by 4 men who forced him to sign a document and warned him not to join any protest again. ISOC has denied any involvement in the alleged abduction. Mongkol and his lawyer went to Bangpoo Police Station to report the incident.  

However, Commander of Samut Prakan Provincial Police Maj Gen Chumpol Phumphuang claimed that police found video footage from security cameras showing that Mongkol had not been kidnapped. He also said they were quite sure that he was in his residence and also at a nearby minimart when he said he was kidnapped.

Maj Gen Chumpol said the police would charge him with perjury and asked him to report to the police station where he can refute the accusation. After his appearance on 17 January, Mongkol did not show up until he was handcuffed on 30 January.

When he disappeared, netizens found new evidence about this political activist . Pictures on his Facebook account showed that he was a soldier in the army in 2019. Some suspected that he may be a provocateur operating within the pro-democracy movement.

A Facebook user also spotted that the messages Mongkol’s friends received had typos inconsistent with Mongkol’s previous posts. Then his Facebook account was deactivated. Later, Khaosod reported that the Royal Thai Army had revealed that Mongkol was in the infantry and was conscripted in the first round of 2019.

The Royal Thai Army said that he been AWOL from the army since December 2020 and declared a deserter in January 2020. If the military court found him guilty, he would be jailed for a maximum of 3 years. Under court procedure, any other crimes committed must be prosecuted first before a deserter goes before a military court.

While the mystery surrounding the case remains unsolved, many netizens condemned him for fabricating the kidnapping story. However, a human rights lawyer thinks otherwise.   

Pooksuk ‘May’ Poonsukcharoen from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights posted on Facebook that his rights should not be neglected even though he was accused of lying.

“Whether Yale lied or not about being kidnapped is one issue, but he had to go before the military court despite the fact that perjury is a general criminal case. Because Yale was a soldier who deserted, he was still under the jurisdiction of the military court.

Let’s step back to the beginning. No individual should be conscripted in this age. He was conscripted and forced to provide his labour for more than a year so he ran away. This is the first stage of injustice. He should not be prosecuted for desertion.

When charged with other crimes, he should not have to go before a military court, and must be detained in a military camp. Here the Constitution Military Court Act must be sorted out.

We should not ignore his rights, just because he was accused of lying.