BANGKOK, Sept 14 — Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon Nua District Court on Wednesday sentenced Red Shirt activist Sombat Boonngamanong to six months in jail and a Bt6,000 fine, but commuted the sentence to a two years suspended jail term for violating the emergency decree.
Mr Sombat, Red Sunday group leader and editor of Lai Jud magazine, said he is prepared to appeal the court verdict.
On May 21 last year he led some 1,000 United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) activists, the ‘Red Shirts’, to protest against the Abhisit government outside Red Shirt headquarters at a department store in Lad Phrao Road.
They charged the government with using violence in suppressing the protest of the Red Shirt movement on May 19 at Ratchaprasong.
The protest was considered violation of the emergency decree and caused trouble to the public as it had obstructed traffic.
Mr Sombat denied the charges, however, saying that the clashes between the Red Shirt movement and the security forces on May 19 was an illegal action by the government and violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICPR).
He claimed that he was a member of National Human Right Commission’s fact finding panel for clash between Red Shirt supporters and security forces at Khok Wua intersection on April 10, 2010.
However, the court said the emergency decree was legally announced and enforced by the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), which did not violate the Constitution, and that his action was a violation of the law.
The court gave him a six-month jail term and a Bt6,000 fine but the sentence was commuted to a two year suspended sentence.
Mr Sombat said he would appeal the verdict within 30 days.
