Court set to hear Thaksin passports case

Court set to hear Thaksin passports case

The Central Administrative Court will on Wednesday begin hearing Thaksin Shinawatra's lawsuit against the Consular Affairs chief whom he accuses of illegally revoking his passports.

A lawyer for the Pheu Thai Party, Wattana Tiangkoon, brought the suit to the court on Thaksin’s behalf after the Foreign Ministry rejected the former premier’s appeal against the order to cancel his passports on Sept 9.

The court accepted the lawsuit brought against Department of Consular Affairs director-general Thongchai Chasawat and two associates on Dec 8.

Thaksin's travel documents re-emerged as a hot issue in May after the Foreign Ministry decided to revoke his two ordinary passports in the wake of the former premier's May 20 press interview in Seoul in which he claimed the privy councillors supported the 2014 coup that ousted his sister Yingluck's government.

In the lawsuit, Mr Thongchai and two associates were said to have issued an order to revoke Thaksin's two Thai passports on May 26 and used a claim by security authorities that parts of his interview undermined “national security and dignity” to justify their action. The order also cited a police investigation of the case and preparation for criminal action against him under sections 112, 326 and 328 of the Criminal Code and Section 14 (3) (5) of the Computer Crime Act.

The lawsuit contends that the order issued by the three government officials was illegal. 


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