Thai court clears political party of opposing monarchy

ANKARA

A Thai court ruled that the opposition Future Forward Party is not guilty of seeking to overthrow the constitutional monarchy in the country, local media reported on Tuesday.

"The accused have not acted in their rights and liberties to overthrow the constitutional monarchy," daily Bangkok Post quoted Taweekiat Meenakanit, one of the judges of the Constitutional Court.

In July 2019, Nathaporn Toprayoon, a former adviser to the ombudsman, had filed a petition against the party, its leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, Secretary-General Piyabutr Saengkanokkul and other party executives.

The petitioner claimed that the inverted triangle in the party’s logo resembled that of the Illuminati, “believed to be behind the unseating of monarchies in Europe,” the daily said.

The opposition party had rejected the allegations and evaluated them as part of a crackdown on the opposition by the royalist establishment in the wake of a controversial election held in March last year.

The party won 80 seats in March 24 general elections, which were held after a gap of eight years since the Thai Royal army overthrew a civilian government in 2014.

The elections signified the end of five years of direct military rule.

Thanathorn managed to obtain the votes of the young population, however, he was temporarily suspended from performing his lawmaker duty based on the accusations of violating the election laws.

The opposition party stands several other ongoing trials.