<p>One step closer to being tried by a Military Court, two embattled anti-junta academics stand firm, saying they only exercised the rights they are entitled to.</p>

<p>Two of the six academics charged with violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings by organising a public talk remain defiant at the risk of receiving jail terms, saying that the junta order can longer be enacted. &nbsp;</p> <p>Attachak Sattayanurak and Somchai Preechasinlapakun, history and law lecturers from Chiang Mai University, at 2 pm on Thursday, 24 December 2015, submitted a document on allegations against them to Chang Puak Police Station in Mueang District of the northern province of Chiang Mai.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><em><span id="docs-internal-guid-0952d7e3-58a6-8995-7670-4a414fce838f">Note: Attachak Sattayanurak is one of the six university lecturers charged </span>with violating National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 3/2015, which bans political gatherings of five or more persons,&nbsp;after holding a press conference and releasing a statement entitled <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/5635">“The University is Not a Military Base”</a> in Chiang Mai on 31 October 2015.</em></p>

<p>Embattled lecturers accused by the military of violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings have denied the charges, saying different ideas are crucial for Thai society.</p> <p>At about 2:30 pm on Tuesday, 24 November 2015, six lecturers charged under the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 3/2015, banning political gatherings of five or more persons, reported to Chang Puak Police Station in the northern province of Chiang Mai after summons were issued against them last week.</p>

<p>The Thai authorities have summoned to a police station an academic who urged the junta not to intervene in academic freedom.</p> <p>According to Midnight University, a virtual university for free public education, police from Chang Puak Police Station in northern Chiang Mai Province issued a summons for Attachak Sattayanurak, a history lecturer from Chiang Mai University.</p>