via Khmer NZ
Ben Doherty
August 17, 2010
BANGKOK: Leaders of the anti-government Red-Shirt movement have pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism, arising from the protests in the Thai capital this year in which 90 people were killed and more than 1900 injured.
After nearly three months in prison, 17 Red Shirt leaders were brought into Bangkok Criminal Court yesterday, barefoot and shackled in leg-irons.
''This is a stupid charge,'' Kokaew Pikulthong said as soldiers led him into the court building. ''This is a political charge.''
The 17 were not charged in open court, but had the charges read to them in a holding cell in the court building.
The government has alleged the protest organisers were committing acts of terrorism because the demonstrations were in breach of a state of emergency declared by the Prime Minister.
The Red Shirts' lawyer, Karom Poltaklang, said all 17 would fight the charges, and they were confident of winning.
''Our persons deny these charges,'' Mr Karom said. ''They deny [them] because this fight is … political. We hope now Thailand will have justice.''
The court appearance drew a small crowd of protesters and supporters, many wearing the movement's trademark red, who cheered the prisoners.
But they were hugely outnumbered by a massive police and army presence.
The Red Shirts, representative mainly of the rural poor, protested on Bangkok's streets for 69 days between March and May, in an effort to topple the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The demonstrations, which crippled the shopping and financial districts, ended when the army attacked the fortified encampments at dawn on May 19. Fleeing protesters rampaged through the city, looting shops and setting fire to dozens of buildings.
Most of the Red Shirt leaders later surrendered to police, but some fled and remain in hiding, rumoured to be in Cambodia.
The state-of-emergency decree, which bans public gatherings of more than five people, was lifted in three more provinces in northern Thailand yesterday, but remains in place in Bangkok.
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