Theerarak
Suthathiwong
The trial of “red shirt” leader Arisman Pongruangrong has
begun in Pattaya with the former fugitive anti-government protestor claiming
he didn’t invade the 2009 ASEAN summit’s host hotel, but went there only to
maintain peace.
Arisman, co-leader of the United Front of Democracy
Against Dictatorship, and his lawyer appeared at Pattaya Provincial Court
Sept. 10 to review documents and witness lists covering charges he conspired
to force the cancellation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
meeting in April 2009 at the Royal Cliff Grand Hotel.
Arisman Pongruangrong arrives
at Pattaya Provincial Court.
The incident, which prompted the evacuation of world
leaders via helicopter, was the first salvo in the red shirts’ bloody
two-year campaign against the Democratic Party-led government that ended
with the death of 92 people in a Bangkok shopping district in May 2010.
Arisman, who originally surrendered to the court in
December, is also charged in five other violent incidents, including the
siege of and trespass on Parliament grounds; the raid at the ThaiCom
satellite uplink station; involvement in terrorism; the theft of anti-riot
weapons; and the use of force to resist arrest at the SC Park Hotel in
Bangkok. He fled Thailand following the dispersal of the crowd at the
Ratchaprasong rally site in May 2010 and reportedly sought and received safe
haven in Cambodia.
Arisman told reporters last week that he has showed up
for all Pattaya court appointments and fully welcomes facing the charges.
He denied there was any conspiracy to breach police
barriers and storm the hotel. He said security camera footage will prove he
and other red shirt leaders told protestors not to damage the hotel
property, not burn the hotel and not harm guests.
Arisman maintains he went into the Royal Cliff to
suppress the protest and maintain peace.
