By Puangthong Pawakapan |
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<div>A key Thai historian has passed away peacefully.
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By Kem Issara |
<p>As the shadow of the junta spreads over the nation, including its universities, activists have felt demoralized that the democratic spirit in commemorating the 6 October incident was again having to compromise with military supremacy which currently is enthusiastically waving the royalism flag.</p>
By Suthachai Yimprasert |
<p>Note: Ajarn Suthachai Yimprasert was summoned to report himself to the Army Club on Thewet Road in Bangkok as part of National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 44/2557. He went on 3 June 2014 to do so, and was released after several hours of interrogation. This is his brief account of what happened, published on his personal Facebook page and then on <em>Prachatai</em>.—trans.</p>
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<p>Dear friends,</p>
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<div>The military released Suthachai Yimprasert, a red-shirt history lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, at about 5 pm, after he reported to the military junta along with ten other activists on Tuesday morning.</div>
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<div>He was released on condition that he will not join any anti-coup activity and not write about the lèse majesté law. </div>
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<div>Suthachai said he did not about the fate of the others. </div>
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<div>Tewarit Maneechay, a Prachatai journalist who was summoned by the same order as Surachai, has not be
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<p>On 3 May, National Human Rights Commissioner Dr Niran Phithakwatchara testified as the last defence witness in the lèse majesté trial of Somyot Prueksakasemsuk. The Criminal Court set 19 Sept for the prosecution and defence to hear its decision on when the verdict would be delivered, as the defence team had sought a ruling from the Constitution Court on the constitutionality of Section 112 of the Criminal Code, or the lèse majesté law.</p>
<p>A Chulalongkorn University lecturer has withdrawn his court case over the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation’s ‘Lom Chao’ (overthrowing the monarchy) chart after the CRES spokesperson told the court that people whose names appeared on it were not meant to be part of a conspiracy.</p>
<p>On 19 May, groups of red shirts under the banner of Democracy Networks held activities to mark the first anniversary of the crackdown in front of Lumpini Park, performing traditional rituals to curse the masterminds who ordered the killings, and campaigning for the release of political prisoners and the repeal of the lèse majesté law.</p>
<p>CRES spokesperson Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd said that Chulalongkorn academic Suthachai Yimprasert had the right to go on a hunger strike, which must make him hungry, but insisted that the CRES was authorized to detain him under the Emergency Decree.</p>