Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Juntong has instructed the legal office of the Justice Ministry to look into political activist Srisuwan Janya’s comment about the Defence Ministry’s plan to purchase military satellites and file a complaint against him for giving a false statement that confused the public, according to his spokesman.
On June 3, Mr Srisuwan issued a statement against the Defence Ministry’s new satellite project, accusing the government of attempting to incur up to 91.2 billion in public debt to fund the satellite procurement project.
Spokesman ACM Monthon Satchukorn said the Defence Council had approved a proposal for the Defence Ministry to draft a 2018-2027 strategic plan on space affairs for country defence purposes in paving the way for the purchase of 112 Theia satellites.
Srisuwan charged that the cameras of these satellites were capable of spying on the people, which could be regarded as a violation of their rights and freedom.
ACM Monthon said ACM Prajin had instructed the legal office of the Justice Ministry to look into Mr Srisuwan’s claim and file a police complaint against him.
He said that Theia satellites are for telecommunications and commercial purposes. The ministry is still in the stage of conducting a technical study by a space affairs subcommittee of the Defence Technology Institute (DTI). No conclusion has been made from the technical study.
ACM Monthon said what Mr Srisuwan said had caused damage to ACM Prajin and confused the public.
Mr Srisuwan said that if a legal suit was filed against him, he would countersue the deputy prime minister for perjury.
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