Police summon 11 activists for violating political gathering ban

The Thai police have issued summonses for at least 11 Rajabhakti activists for violating the Thai junta’s ban on political gatherings.  

Chanoknan Ruamsap, one of the key leaders of the New Democracy Movement (NDM), a pro-democracy activist group, told Prachatai that on Friday, 18 December 2015, she received a summons from the Railway Police Station in Thonburi, Bangkok.

The letter orders her and 10 other activists who were intercepted and detained en route to Rajabhakti Park earlier this month, to report to the police station at 9 am on 22 December 2015.  

The summons states that she and her fellow activists have been accused of violating the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 3/2015, which prohibits political gatherings of five or more persons.

Col Burin Thongprapai, a member of the military Judge Advocate General’s Department, is the plaintiff in the case while the first suspect in the case listed in the summons is Sirawit Serithiwat (aka Ja New), a well-known anti-junta activist who already faces charges in the military court for violating the junta’s political gathering ban in February 2015.

Chanoknan said that so far she is the only one of the 11 activists to have received a summons.

She added that she does not know why the letter summons only her and 10 other activists. However, she said that the authorities might only want to summon activists who have not agreed to signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), promising to refrain from political activities.

The summons

Military officers detain Sirawit and other anti-junta activists on 7 December 2015 at Ban Pong Train Station in Ratchaburi Province 

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