The Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of people protesting against MoU 44, between Thailand and Cambodia, which a petition submitted to the court claimed was an attempt to overthrow democracy.
The petition was filed with the charter court by Niyom Nopparat, after it had been rejected by the Office of Attorney-General on the grounds that it lacked sufficient evidence to prove that the protesters intend to topple the democratic system.
In its ruling, read today, the Constitutional Court decided that protests against MoU 44 are legitimate expressions of political opinion by people who have the right and liberty to check and criticise the performance of the government.
MoU 44 is an instrument signed between Thailand and Cambodia in 2001, during the administration of Thaksin Shinawatra, under which the two countries acknowledge joint development of an overlapping area of claim in the Gulf of Thailand.
The MoU does, however, contravene the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, regarding Cambodia’s unilateral drawing of the continental shelf borderline, such that it trespasses on Thailand’s Exclusive Economic Zone and half of Kut Island in Trat province.
