The Supreme Court today upheld the earlier ruling of two lower courts to dismiss a lawsuit filed by 15 activists accusing junta chairman Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and four military top brass of high treason for staging a coup d’etat against an elected government in 2014.
The highest court reasoned that what the military junta had done was not against the laws, and agreed with the rulings by the Court of First Instance and the Appeals Court to dismiss their lawsuits.
One of the 15 activists of the group Mr Anond Nampha said they respected and accepted the final ruling of the Supreme Court.
He said although the justice system could not find fault with the military junta for staging the coup, at least his group has shown to the public that coup had damaged the country.
He said the group would continue to move against any coup and would throw full support for democracy groups to return democracy to the country.
Earlier in May 2015, the Criminal Court dismissed the case citing the legal amnesty the coup makers granted themselves in the interim charter they enacted shortly after the military takeover.
The court reasoned that Section 48 of the interim charter has specifically exempted the junta, formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), from any legal action over the “seizure and control of the administration of State affairs on the 22nd day of May B.E. 2557 (2014).”
It said although the coup was “not in accordance with principles of democracy, there was later a royal promulgation of the interim constitution of BE 2557, which contains a provision that exempted [the junta] from any liability in Section 48.”
The first court then concluded that the action of the five defendants is exempted from guilt and liability, as prescribed in the interim constitution of BE 2557.
The lawsuit filed by the fifteen accusers consequently has no basis for the court to deliberate. The case is hereby dismissed, the first court said.
The group had asked the court to prosecute Gen Prayut and four other military and police officers for violating Section 113 of the Thai Criminal Code, which outlaws armed insurrection against the Constitution, government, or the monarchy.
