Thailand: 19 red-shirt leaders arraigned
Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand’s Minister of
Justice on December 16 arraigned 19 leaders of the United Front for
Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD),
or the red-shirts, for violating the government’s ban on political gatherings.
Talking with the press, lawyer representing the UDD
Winyat Chatmoontree said the court accepted the case.
Earlier, in August, these people were arrested by the
police and were prosecuted for violating the ban on political gatherings and establishing centres
monitoring fraud in the August 7 referendum on the new constitutional draft.
The
UDD led street protests in 2009 and 2010 in order to support former Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinwatra, who was ousted after a coup in 2006 and staged
demonstrations in 2015 when former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra,
Thaksin’s sister, was removed from the position of Prime Minister.
The
Thai government banned political over-five-people gatherings and has summoned
hundreds of people for interrogations.-VNA