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Case
Case name
Vote No Sticker at Banpong District
Name of persons / Name of Media
Pakorn
Case status
คำอธิบายสถานะคดี ภาษาอังกฤษ
On trial in Court of Appeal
Status of Accused
Dismissed
Offense / order
Referendum Act of 2016 section 61, Others (Denying to provide fingerprint)
Summary
Progress of case
10 July 2016
Prachatai reported that at 11.30, as Pakorn Areekul, Anucha, and Anan were visiting Ban Pong villlagers who were summoned after opening a referendum watch center and charged with violating the Head of NCPO Order No. 3/2016, the police searched their pick-up truck and found referendum campaign leaflets. The police then invited the three to question at the Ban Pong police station. Taweesak, a journalist for Prachatai who went along in the car to conduct interview, was also questioned.
The 'Vote No' sticker with the message "7 August - Join together to Vote No to deny the future that we cannot choose " that was presented as evidence to prosecute defendants in this case
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reported that the police later confiscated the items and accused the four of “having transmitted a text, or an image, or sound through the print media, or radio, or television, or electronic media, or other channels, which are inconsistent with the truth or are violent, aggressive, rude, inciting or threatening and aimed at preventing a voter from casting a ballot or vote in any direction shall be considered as disrupting the referendum”, an offence under Section 61 Paragraph 2 of the Referendum Act 2016.
The officials listed 14 confiscated items in the arrest record: a pick-up truck, a vinyl banner writing “Thai PM, everybody gets mocked”, a set of speaker, ‘Vote No’ bookmarks, “7 reasons to reject the draft constitution” leaflets, referendum vote pamphlets, counter opinion leaflets, “Release the 7 referendum prisoners” leaflets, Nitirat group’s statement on the referendum, pamphlets about how to register to vote outside hometown, and ‘Vote No’ stickers. Whichi is a violation of Referendum Act Section 62 paragraph 2.
Around 18.00, the police detained the 4 suspects at the detention room in Ban Pong police station, and rejected bail during the investigation by stating that they would conduct the investigation in the same night. The suspects would be brought to seek detention order at Ratchaburi Provincial Court in the morning of 11 July 2016.
At 20.20, it was reported that the police sieged Phanuwat’s residence and inform the same charge as the former four. Phanuwat was one of the accused of the opening of the referendum watch center in Ban Pong.
11 July 2016
Thai PBS website reported that at 9.45, the Ban Pong police brought the 5 suspects to request detention order from Ratchaburi Provincial Court. The inquiry official filed a request for detention order because they need to interrogate 5 more witnesses and were waiting for the result for their criminal record. Taweesak, the Prachatai journalist, insisted on not requesting bail because journalism is not a crime.
Prachatai reported that at 16.45, Ratchaburi Provincial Court granted bail to the 5 suspects who possessed referendum leaflets and were believed to distribute the leaflets, and were charged with Section 61 Paragraph 2 of the Referendum Act 2016. The Court granted bail for each of the five for 140,000 baht, 700,000 baht in total. The four activists, some are students, used money from bail funding raised by Anon Nampa, while Taweesak used money from his organization.
29 August 2016
They were summoned to apepar before the public prosecutor.
