BANGKOK, Oct 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The charismatic frontman of Thailand’s
anti-military parliamentary bloc appeared in court Friday accused of
breaching election rules by holding media shares, a case which could see him
barred from politics and jailed for up to 10 years.
Billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 40, has rattled the kingdom’s
arch-royalist establishment since seizing the political limelight with his
caustic take downs of the army’s role in Thai politics and society.
His upstart Future Forward Party became Thailand’s third largest political
group in a March election which ended five years of outright junta rule.
The party was backed by millions of young people wearied by the dominance
of the conservative old guard.
But Thanathorn’s electoral success has been matched by a battery of legal
woes.
He has been suspended from attending parliament since the Election
Commission accused him of breaking polling laws by holding media shares – an
offence that carries a long jail term.
Arriving for the first hearing at the Constitutional Court on Friday
Thanathorn again pleaded his “innocence” telling reporters the media company
had ceased operations five months before the election.
“We are convinced that there is no evidence,” he said.
His supporters say the case has been trumped up to take out Thailand’s most
popular politician and deliver a gut punch to the FFP and its radical reform
agenda.
The party wants to amend the constitution to excise the military’s
influence, slash defence spending and end conscription to an army that has
carried out a coup at an average of once every seven years since the 1932
establishment of a constitutional monarchy.
“The party is against the military… I support their vision and I
absolutely support Mr Thanathorn,” Punjarat Wattawongvibul, 35, told AFP
outside the court.
The highly-interventionist court disbanded a different anti-military
opposition party linked to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra right before the
March election.
Thanathorn has also been singled out by the kingdom’s powerful army chief.
General Apirat Kongsompong last week delivered a diatribe warning of the
spectre of a commmunist rebellion in a speech flecked with barely-concealed
references to Thanathorn and his party.
Future Forward have been a rare voice of criticism against Thailand’s
royalist establishment.
The monarchy, one of the world’s richest and headed by King Maha
Vajiralongkorn, is at the apex of Thai power.
On Thursday 70 Future Forward MPs voted against a royal decree transferring
two key army units to the direct control of the king — an unprecedented
political objection to a royal command.
The decree still passed parliament with an overwhelming majority.