Academics in court II

As it turns out, the five academics and students we said had just spent five days being tried by the military junta, ended up in a truncated appearance.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reports that hearings scheduled for 6-7 and 12-14 December were suspended on the 12th.

These were witness hearings in the case of those charged with violating The Dictator’s No. 3/2558 regarding the prohibition of political assembly of five or more persons. This is the case where academics at the International Conference on Thai Studies where they meekly stated that “An Academic Conference is Not a Military Barracks” in July 2017.

In a long post, TLHR reports that the prosecutors asked for the court to rule on whether the case could continue after the military junta lifted its ban on political meetings – not that those charged had done this. “The court then issued an order to suspend the witness hearings scheduled for 12-14 December and set a meeting for all parties in the case to hear the ruling at 9 am on 25 December.”

Before the case was adjourned, each of the accused were allowed to enter their statements into the court record, declaring their innocence and pointing to the junta’s denial of academic freedom.

The TLHR post includes all statements. They should be read.