<div>The eyewitness account of&nbsp;Sittiporn Jorradol, former producer at Nation TV, who witnessed the violent incident near Ramkhamhaeng University last Saturday where five people were killed by gunshots.&nbsp;</div> <div> </div>

<p>It seems they have belatedly recognized that their message wasn’t getting across to a foreign audience.&nbsp; Talk of overthrowing a democratically elected government in order to create a democratic form of government wasn’t exactly the clearest of messages.&nbsp; So the newly mis-named Civil Movement for Democracy has decided to use one of its great strengths – the superior education of its supporters.</p> <p></p>

<p>With all respect to a former assistant dean of Harvard Law School, I believe your article (Stephen B Young, <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/381522/court-did-its-duty-over-amnesty-bill">“Court ‘did its duty’ over charter change”</a>) is based on the assumption that the root of the power of the Constitutional Court of Thailand is similar to that of the U.S. Supreme Court. If this assumption was correct, I would actually agree with you that the courts have the power to review the actions of the government since, as you pointed out, the courts need to "stand between the people and the selfish abuse of power by those in government".</p> <p></p>

<div>Following yet another year of world headlines dominated by horrific acts of violence against women and girls, &nbsp;during the 16 days of activism to end violence against women, starting on November 25th and ending in Human Rights Day, December 10th, the international community comes together to reaffirm and re-commit to securing a world free of violence against women and girl.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<p>The Constitutional Court ruling that it is unconstitutional to amend the Constitution is proof of the sacrosanct nature of the document, so unutterably perfect that no change could possibly be an improvement.&nbsp; Perhaps it is time to go back and review how this flawless piece of work came about.</p> <p></p>

<p>Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will pay a two-day visit to Singapore from 26-27 November, the first overseas trip following the Constitutional Court’s ruling which could have led to the dissolution of her party, the Pheu Thai. The Court accused her government of acting against the constitution when it tried to make the upper house of the Parliament directly elected rather than partly appointed. But Yingluck’s government somehow survives.</p> <p></p>

<div>Following&nbsp;is an unofficial translation of the Supreme Court's verdict which stated on May 8, 2013 that Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, is applicable to Thailand's former Kings.</div> <div> </div>

<p>The flames of anti-government protests have been further fanned with a ruling by the International Court of Alphabetical Justice (often called the World Letters Court) that the Thai letters ‘kho khuat’ and ‘kho khon’ are unnecessary, redundant, superfluous and supernumerary.&nbsp; While not going so far as to order the Thai authorities to abolish the letters, the verdict has enraged linguistic nationalists who blame the government for the situation.</p> <p></p>

<p>I was more than 800 kilometers away from Kok Wua and Ratchaprasong during April-May 2010. None of my relatives, not even one, were among those who protested in accordance with the law. But I was anguished by the armed siege on the protests, the seize that caused nearly 100 people to lose their lives and more than 2,000 to be injured.&nbsp; And I was anguished by the unjust use (abuse) of the law against another 1,000 people after the protests.</p> <p></p>

<div>There have not been many Thai Sumpreme Court lese majesty cases that have been made public—the last one was Veera Musikapong’s 1988 case—and so it is always exciting when the veil is pulled back a little further on the mysteries of the high court’s jurisprudence. The Supreme Court case made available just a few days ago does much to excite and even more to alarm. The implications of this case are tremendous, and may well mark the low point of the regime of lese majesty in Thailand. At first glance, this case seems like a very bad one that can have devastating, real-life consequences. But reading it more deeply and the case becomes much worse than it first appears.</div> <div> </div>

<p>A police proposal to expunge longstanding traffic tickets has turned into a major controversy that threatens to overthrow the government.&nbsp; Some commentators have even gone as far as predicting a military coup.</p> <p></p>

<div><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">&nbsp;Lèse majesté&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;prisoner Somyot&nbsp;Pruksakasemsuk illustrates five points of folly -- and one cleverness -- of the blanket amnesty draft bill.</div> <div> </div>