The Military Court has detained a supporter of the eight abducted junta critics.  He is accused by the junta’s legal team of lѐse majesté.

The Military Court of Bangkok on Saturday morning, 30 April 2016, granted police permission to detain Burin Intin, who was arrested by the police on Wednesday evening for gathering with 15 other activists to show solidarity with the abducted junta critics.

Matichon Online reported yesterday that Col Burin Thongprapai, legal officer of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the formal name of the Thai junta, at 4:30 pm on Friday, 29 April 2016, took Burin to the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).

Col Burin said then that the military invoked NCPO Order No. 3/2015, which gives the regime absolute power to maintain national security, to arrest Burin on Wednesday night from Phaya Thai Police Station. He has been under military custody since.

The junta’s legal officer said on Friday afternoon that Burin is suspected of offences under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lѐse majesté law, and Article 14/3 of the Computer Crime Act, a law on the importation of illegal information, adding that the Military Court had already issued an arrest warrant for Burin.

Col Burin told the media that the military has for a while been monitoring Burin’s Facebook account under the name ‘Burin Intin’ as he usually posted anti-junta messages on it.  Col Burin reported that at 12:13 pm on 27 April, Burin posted a video clip online with the title ‘I want to get abducted, release our friends’ and when a person commented on the video, Burin responded with comments deemed defamatory to the monarchy.

On Thursday, the military searched Burin’s home and confiscated three computer CPUs and a ‘red bowl’ inscribed with a message from Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister. The search was carried out after the Military Court issued an arrest warrant for Burin and the military reported the case to the TCSD.

The authorities added that they are currently searching for a man called ‘Wan’, a student from Thammasat University who is a friend of Sirawit Serithiwat, a well-known student activist from New Democracy Movement (NDM), as Burin told them that he gave his mobile phone to Wan before he was detained by the military.

Burin told the authorities that he only gave his mobile phone to Wan because he wanted Wan to charge the phone for him and did not intend to destroy information on it.

The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that so far Burin denied the accusations.

Burin started to participate in the political activities organised by Resistant Citizen, a well known anti-junta activist group, since September 2015. He is, however, not the members of the group, but merely joined as an active anti-junta citizen.

A soldier takes Burin Intin away from Phaya Thai Police Station, 27 April 2016 (file photo)