3 members of the activist group Thalufah were denied bail after 15 members of the group surrendered to the police yesterday (1 October) over an arrest warrant issued with regard to an incident on 3 August 2021 when they splashed paint in front of Thung Song Hong Police Station.
Thalufah members putting up their flag in front of Thung Song Hong Police Station on 3 August 2021 (Picture from Thalufah)
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that the police initially said the activists would be granted bail on a security of 10,000 baht per person. However, Metropolitan Police Division 2 Deputy Commander Pol Col Saksit Meesawat later told the activists they would be taken to court for a temporary detention request. The police claimed that the temporary detention request was necessary because they have not finished the case report for submision to the public prosecutor.
12 activists were later granted bail on a security of 35,000 baht each, but 3 were denied bail. The three had previously been arrested during the 13 October 2020 protest at the Democracy Monument, and according to TLHR, the court denied them bail on the grounds that they had violated their previous bail conditions. However, TLHR noted that the bail conditions were set on 21 September 2021, which was after the incident on 3 August 2021.
TLHR said that they filed another bail request for the 3 activists today (2 October), but the request was once again denied.
On 3 August 2021, the activists splashed paint in front of Thung Song Hong Police Station following their release after spending a night in detention on charges relating to a protest at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau on 2 August to demand that the police return a speaker truck seized after the 1 August ‘car mob’ rally.
Activists Jatupat Boonpattarasaksa and Thawee Thiangwiset, who are also Thalufah members, had surrendered themselves at Thung Song Hong Police Station on 9 August 2021. They were charged with violating the Emergency Decree, damaging public property, and taking part in an assembly of more than 10 people which caused a breach of public peace. On the same day, activist Songpol Sonthirak, another Thalufah member, was also arrested.
The Criminal Court later granted bail to Tawee and Songpol on a security of 35,000 baht, but denied bail to Jatupat on the grounds that he faces other charges for similar offenses, had broken his bail conditions which prohibited him from repeating these offenses, and was likely to flee or cause danger if he is released. Jatupat has been repeatedly denied bail and is still in detention at the Bangkok Remand Prison.
