By Shawn W. Crispin
The junta is tightening its grip on power.
The detention of 14 student activists in Thailand underscores the ruling junta’s rising crackdown on dissent and free expression, signaling a deeper descent into strongman-led authoritarian rule. While army commander cum Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has strongly consolidated his rule after a year in power, his government is nonetheless tightening its grip amid plans to delay elections deep into 2016.
The activists, 11 of them university students, were arrested on June 26 while staging a small, peaceful pro-democracy demonstration in Bangkok. They each face up to seven years in prison on charges of sedition for “inciting unrest” and violating the junta’s strict ban on political gatherings of more than five people, according to reports. Their detention has sparked public protests, including the spontaneous posting of anti-coup notes near a Bangkok skytrain station, and strong newspaper editorials criticizing Prayuth’s increasingly iron-fisted rule.
Deputy Prime Minister and legal expert Wissanu Krea-ngam was quoted saying the activists should stand trial in a military rather than civil court because they violated a National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) order. The activists will go before a military court on Tuesday after 12 days in pre-trial detention. The activists’ defense lawyers have likened their case to the arrests and military court trial of 18 student activists in October 1976, a flashpoint moment in the country’s long struggle for democracy.
Read the full story at The Diplomat