- A Thai court has acquitted about 70 people of all charges related to large-scale protests that closed Bangkok’s two airports for about 10 days in 2008.
- The demonstrators opposed the government aligned with ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
- Members of the Democratic People’s Union also joined the protests, occupying the state television station and occupying the Government House for three months.
A Thai court on Friday acquitted about 70 people of all charges related to large-scale protests that closed Bangkok’s two airports for about 10 days in 2008.
The ruling by the Bangkok Criminal Court is the second this year to find that demonstrators opposed to the government led by allies of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have not committed serious crimes in their activities.
Members of the group, the People’s Alliance for Democracy, also briefly occupied the state television station and occupied the Governor-General’s Palace for three months.
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A court ruled Friday that the protest at the airport was peaceful and the protesters were unarmed and therefore protected by the constitution, public broadcaster Thai PBS and the Thai Lat newspaper reported.
Anti-government protesters are seen in front of the departure terminal at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on November 26, 2008. A Thai court on Friday acquitted about 70 people of all charges related to massive protests that closed Bangkok’s two airports for about 10 days in 2008. (AP Photo/Satchai Lalit, File)
Witnesses to the 2008 protests, including an Associated Press reporter, witnessed acts of violence and intimidation by sometimes armed security guards employed by PAD, although not by those acquitted in January and Friday. did.
The 67 people in Friday’s incident have been charged with serious crimes including sedition and terrorism, which could carry the death penalty.
Defendant Panthep Puapongpan, a former PAD spokesperson, welcomed the court’s decision. He said they were acquitted because their actions were deemed to be in the greater good of the country, as they rallied against a government accused of abuse of power and corruption.
“Our ordeal was not in vain. The verdict helped us heal and many of the defendants shed tears,” he wrote on Facebook.
Dozens of defendants who took part in the 2008 airport protests were divided into two groups and indicted in 2013. The first group was acquitted in January, but about 12 of them were fined 20,000 baht ($550) for violating an emergency law banning them from entering public places. Gathering.
The protesters, known as “yellow shirts” because they wear shirts in the color of Thailand’s loyalty to the monarchy, occupied Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports. They demanded the resignation of a government loyal to Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup following massive Yellow Shirt protests denouncing corruption and disrespect for the monarchy.
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Mr. Thaksin’s ouster sparked years of sometimes violent power struggles between supporters and opponents.
The demonstrators refused to comply with an injunction that shut down airport operations and asked them to leave. The siege ended only after a court ruling forced Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin’s brother-in-law, to resign.
In 2011, a civil court ordered the group’s leaders to pay 522 million baht ($14.7 million) in damages to the state airport authority. They were declared bankrupt and had their assets seized last year to pay part of the amount.
Thaksin returned to Thailand from self-imposed exile last year to serve an eight-year prison sentence for several convictions. He was immediately transferred from the prison to a state hospital as he was reported to be in poor health. He was released on parole after six months in hospital detention.
