The Constitutional Court said today that, if a halt is not brought to the Move Forward party’s campaign activities, vis a vis the lèse majesté law, they may undermine the monarchy and lead to its eventual overthrow.
The court unanimously ruled that the Move Forward party and its former leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, were attempting to “overthrow” the Constitutional Monarchy with its campaign to amend the lèse majesté law (Article 112 of the Criminal Code).
The court also ordered the party and Pita to cease all such activities, which include expressing views, speaking, writing, advertising or resorting to other means of communication in support of amending the lèse majesté law.
Amending the lèse majesté law through non-legislative channels is, under Article 49 (paragraph 2) of the Constitution and Article 74 of the organic law, not permissible, said the court.
The court noted that the party’s submission to parliament of a bill to amend Article 112 amounts to a thinly veiled attempt to use parliament as a means to undermine the significance of the monarchy.
The party’s continuous campaign to amend the controversial law was intended to increase political support but is deemed an attempt to drag the monarchy into political conflict with the people, said the court
The court also cited the association by some Move Forward MPs with anti-monarchy demonstrations, made clear by their participation in the protests, acting as guarantors to bail out suspects held on lèse majesté charges and taking to the podium to address protesters in a way which implied that they were all “on the same side”.
If these activities are allowed to continue unchecked, the court said they could ultimately imperil the monarchy.
