Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has invoked Section 44 of the interim constitution to suspend the statute of limitations on illegal fishing cases in which the accused or defendants have fled during trial or after conviction.
Order 69/2016, issued by Gen Prayut in his capacity as chief of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), was published in the Royal Gazette on Tuesday. The suspension is effective immediately.
According to the announcement, there were currently more than 2,600 cases related to violations of the Royal Ordinance on Fisheries B.E.2558 (2015) and many suspects and defendants had failed to show up after being summoned by law enforcement officers or courts of justice.
It cited the benefits of preventing and suppressing impacts on the country’s economic security as a reason for removing the statute of limitations.
The order also overrode the expiration of the statute of limitations, granted in Section 98 of the Criminal Code, for convicted fugitives after a certain number of years of the delivery of the final judgement.