Monday, August 17, 2009

Judicial madness?

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Police deployed at Supreme Court

Writer: BangkokPost.com
Published: 17/08/2009 at 12:42 PM

"About 1,000 police have been deployed outside and inside the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions ahead of the reading of the verdict in the rubber sapling case scheduled for 2pm.

About 700 police have been positioned outside and 300 inside the court. People who are not concerned with the case will not be allowed inside. Closed-circuit television sets have been installed outside the courtroom for the mass media to cover the news. Journalists are not allowed to take pictures inside the courtroom.

The nine judges were holding a secret meeting in the morning to consider charges against each of the 44 defendants before making their own verdicts. The reading of the verdict is scheduled for 2pm. As of noon, supporters of Newin Chidchob, one of the defendants, have not yet shown up at the court.

The court's verdict would be postponed for 30 days if only one of the 44 defendants failed to appear before the court."


Say what????? Lets not turn up to court ever, does that mean there will never be a verdict???
or is the report saying something different? Update: Ok, I understand now - see here
(only an hour to go till the verdict - will find out soon)
UPDATE: One defendant failed to turn up - verdict postponed to 21st September - how predictable was that !!!!

What I want to know is how come Thaksin is the only guy who seems to get convictions against him that stick, and how come he got 2 years jail time for that particular offence, when coup leaders get nothing, and also how come TRT gets disbanded for the offence of individuals, yet when The Democrats have a few individuals do shady things, it's all Ok? (Thanks to Bangkok Pundit - an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Thai politics)

(although, of course, there was a time when the courts seemed to be very lenient on Thaksin & clan - those times are sure gone:)
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