A protest group leader, Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, was released from the Central Women’s Correctional Institute yesterday (Thursday) evening, after the Criminal Court granted her conditional bail.
The court granted bail after Panusaya agreed to the conditions imposed by the court, supported by assurances from her parents and the vice rector for student affairs of Thammasat University. A bond of 200,000 baht had also been posted by her parents on April 30th.
The conditions of the bail require that Panusaya does not do anything which could be construed as offending the monarchy, refrains from causing unrest, does not leave the country without the court’s permission and appears in court as scheduled.
Panusaya was held on remand in late March after she was indicted, along with several other Ratsadon leaders, on lèse majesté and sedition charges, related to the protests at Thammasat University and Sanam Luang on September 19th and 20th last year.
Human rights lawyer Krisadang Nutcharas told the media, after the court’s decision, that Panusaya will not be required to wear an electronic monitoring device as previously reported and that he is not aware of any other pending arrest warrants against her.
Regarding two other Ratsadon leaders, Parit “Penguin” and Chai-amorn “Ammy” Kaewviboonphan, who were also scheduled to attend a hearing yesterday, but could not because they were still in quarantine. Krisadang said they might attend their bail hearing today (Friday) or on May 13th.
Yesterday afternoon, the mother of another Ratsadon leader, Anon Nampa, sought the court’s permission for him to be treated for a COVID-19 infection at Thammasat University Hospital.
The mother of Panupong Jadnok also asked the court to release her son for observation outside the prison, as he is regarded as being at high risk of having contracted the disease from Anon.
