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THAILAND-POLITICS
New Thai political party charged under draconian old law
BANGKOK, Sept 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Thai police on Monday charged members
of a new progressive party led by a maverick 39-year-old tycoon with
spreading “false” information about the ruling junta in a Facebook live
broadcast.
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit was chargeThanathorn Juangroongruangkitd
under the Computer Crime Act alongside two other members of the “Future
Forward” party over a weekly broadcast on Facebook in June.
The show accused the junta of trying to intimidate rivals into aligning
with it before next year’s election, Pannika Wanich, a spokeswoman for Future
Forward, told AFP.
If convicted under the draconian law, the trio face hefty fines and up to
five years in jail.
But the Future Forward party said it would continue its campaigning before
its formal launch onto the political stage on October 1.
“We are not afraid. We will fight the case and continue our political
activities,” Pannika said.
Last week the junta announced a partial easing of a ban on political
activities which it imposed after toppling the civilian government in 2014.
Thanathorn’s legal woes come just months after he launched his political
career, hoping to win votes among a public wearied by the 12-year power
struggle between a pro-junta old guard and allies of billionaire ex-premier
Thaksin Shinawatra.
He attracted some comparisons to other “outsider” politicians making waves
around the globe, such as France’s Emmanuel Macron.
But analysts say the political novice has yet to make a serious case for
his liberal party.
Under a junta-scripted constitution anyone convicted of a criminal offence
is banned from running as a lawmaker.
The Pheu Thai party, which formed the government toppled in 2014, has yet
to reveal who its leader will be ahead of the polls.
Ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra, who led that government, joined her brother
Thaksin in self-exile last year just before a court found her guilty of
criminal malfeasance during her time in office.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1751 hrs