Murder of Thai activist raises fears of witch-hunt

BANGKOK

A political poet and ardent opponent of repressive legislation protecting the Thai monarchy was gunned down Wednesday in Bangkok, as Thailand nervously awaits the outcome of several court cases that could see the prime minister removed from power.

Kamol Duangpasuk, who wrote under the pseudonym Mainueng Kor Khuntee for a weekly Thai language magazine, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the parking lot of a Bangkok restaurant. He died later in hospital.

Duangpasuk was a well-known activist among the "Red Shirts" - supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra - who frequently took to protest stages to read his poems. He was especially active in opposing article 112 of the Thai criminal code that punishes those who are seen to insult, threaten or harm members of the royal family with sentences of up to 15 years in jail. On Tuesday evening, a Bangkok "Red Shirt" radio station was also sprayed with bullets although nobody was hurt.

Courts have tended to very loosely interpret the lese-majeste law, leading to a high number of imprisonments over the last eight years.

The incidents occurred days after a hospital director and former general, Dr. Rientong Nanna, founded an association called the “Rubbish collection organization.” He also created a Facebook page with the objective of gathering evidence and filing legal cases against people suspected of lese-majeste. Since the page was set up, more than 100,000 people have joined.

Sunai Pasuk, Thailand’s representative for Human Rights Watch, this week warned that the initiative could lead to a “witch hunt” of people suspected of being disloyal to the monarchy.

Sunai told media “the group had announced that some anti-monarchists elements needed to be handled by ‘special means,’ which could be implied as encouraging violence.”

This rise in tensions around the monarchy, an institution revered by most Thai people, takes place as the fate of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra - Thaksin’s sister - hangs in the balance. The Constitutional Court should decide in coming weeks if she has breached the constitution by unfairly ordering the transfer of a senior civil servant in 2011.

If the Court decides against Yingluck, she would be immediately suspended from her position. 

Yingluck is also facing a "dereliction of duty” case filed with the Anti-Corruption Commission, an independent agency created by the Thai Constitution. The case is related to a rice-subsidies scheme criticized for opening the door to massive corruption, which Yingluck is accused of doing nothing to stop. The scheme has caused massive financial losses to the country.

The commission will decide whether to indict her in coming weeks. If it proceeds, her position will be suspended and an impeachment process will start in front of the Senate, which is dominated by the opposition Democrat Party.

Yingluck has faced a wave of opposition protests since her government pushed through an amnesty in 2013 that would have lifted a 2008 corruption conviction against Thaksin.

Confronted by massive demonstrations, the government withdrew the bill, but the opposition has alleged corruption by the government and Shinawatra family.

Yingluck dissolved the parliament December 9 and called February 2 elections, which were disrupted by the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee who want an unelected "people’s council" to run Thailand until the political system is reformed.

englishnews@aa.com.tr