The Thai junta has released an anti-junta journalist and Pheu Thai politicians detained incommunicado.
At 4 pm on Tuesday, 15 September 2015, the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) released Pravit Rojanaphruk, 48, an anti-junta journalist of the the Nation news agency, from the 1st Army Region Base in Bangkok after he was detained incommunicado for two days.
The journalist known for his fierce criticisms against the junta and the use of Article 112 of the Criminal Code, lese majeste law, told Prachatai that he did not know where he was detained exactly.
Pravit said that he was detained because of the anti-junta messages questioning the legitimacy of the junta on his twitter account and other messages about the appointment of the new secretary to the Office of the National Security Council.
He, however, mentioned that the messages were not his.
On the same day, the junta also released Pichai Nirthanan, a former Energy Minister from Pheu Thai Party, and Karun Hosakul, a former Pheu Thai member of the parliament, who were detained and taken to unknown facilities on the 9 and 10 September.
The two were detained because they regularly voiced criticisms against the regime on social networks.
Pichai posted on his facebook account after his release “under the current special political circumstance, I will not give interviews about the economy and the political effects on the economy. I believe that time would prove things that I already mentioned. ”
According to Col Winthai Suvaree, the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) spokesperson, the latest summons of the former Energy Minister is crucial for creating mutual understanding, saying that Pichai has been making ‘one-sided’ allegations to discredit the government and did not comply with conditions of cooperation with the NCPO, which he was ordered to comply with after the previous summons.
Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, last week announced to the media that the military has already been merciful to the politicians detained.
The junta’s supreme leader added that ‘direct criticism’ against the government which continues to harm the nation will not be tolerated.
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