THAILAND: Exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and other top officials are banned from politics for five years
Record ID:
1532780
THAILAND: Exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and other top officials are banned from politics for five years
- Title: THAILAND: Exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and other top officials are banned from politics for five years
- Date: 31st May 2007
- Summary: (W4) BANGKOK, THAILAND (MAY 30, 2007) (REUTERS) NIGHTSHOTS WIDE SHOT OF EXTERIOR OF COURT VARIOUS OF SECURITY OUTSIDE COURT
- Embargoed: 16th June 2007 04:14
- Keywords:
- Location: Thailand
- Country: Thailand
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA2KR5TX4CRXKHAS627755RE6N8
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: The Constitutional Tribunal on Wednesday (May 30) found the Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai) party guilty of bribing two small parties to run in an election last year which ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had called to defuse street protests against him.
The court also said party officials paid a small party to falsify its membership records to allow it to contest the poll, which was inconclusive and later annulled by the courts.
"The party administered the country to further its own interests and lost legitimacy so it should be disbanded," Judge Krairerk Kasemsant said. His comments came at the end of a marathon 10-hour televised explanation of its verdicts on charges of breaches of election laws.
The five-year ban extends to the entire 111-member executive committee of Thai Rak Thai, the first party to win an absolute majority in Thailand.
"We think that we can provide, we can find a solution, a political solution for Thai people," party leader Chaturong Chaisang told reporters as he left the court.
Thaksin, a charismatic billionaire who was ousted by a coup last September, is living in exile in London.
Earlier on Wednesday, the former opposition Democrat Party was cleared by the Constitutional Tribunal of all charges of breaking election laws.
Chaturon Chaisang called on supporters in Bangkok to use restraint and tolerance after the court ruling.
"The verdict that came out we think differently. We think that we are not receiving justice," said Chaturon, addressing supporters outside party headquarters where he had gone after hearing the verdict.
"The verdict that came out comes from the idea that whoever seizes power is right," Chaturon added.
Although a speech by revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej last week prompted both parties to promise restraint regardless of the outcome, Thailand's military-appointed government was braced for trouble from Thaksin supporters, upset by the verdicts. Millions of people in the countryside and the urban poor who gave him landslide election victories in 2001 and 2005 still see him as the only politician who really cares about them.
Some 1,800 uniformed, riot and plain-clothes police were on the streets around the court and 13,000 "emergency" police and troops are on stand-by should things turn ugly.
Army-appointed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has the power to impose martial law and a curfew, as well as deploy troops on the streets of Bangkok. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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