The military court's decision to release 14 members of the self-styled "New Democracy Movement" is a welcome move. It will help the military regime out of a hole it should not have dug itself into in the first place.
The old adage applies: When you're in a hole, stop digging. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha compounded the problem when he told the media he had made "suggestions" to the military judiciary about how to handle the case.
It is likely we never will know exactly who decided to arrest the 14 young men and women. Officials including the army chief Gen Udomdej Sitabutr tried to claim the students were working for politicians, or some other third hand.
Just before the court ordered the students released, a military member of the National Reform Council, Gen Thawatchai Samutsakhon, claimed an international organisation was behind the students.
From the start, the public has seen right through that incredible attempt to justify the unjustifiable. Even the premier's top political aide, Prime Minister's Office Minister ML Panadda Diskul, has admitted the students and their cause are righteous.
There are numerous reasons the students never should have been detained in the first place. They were entirely peaceful, and they attracted a minuscule crowd that posed absolutely no threat to the regime or to civil order. Their appeal to the public and political influence was not precisely zero but close to it. Now authorities have given them a national audience and widespread sympathy.
Authorities have been selectively arbitrary about who must be warned, who must be intimidated with "attitude adjustment" and who must be physically held in a holding prison and appear before a military judge. Case-by-case justice is the very opposite of rule of law.
It was quickly obvious that Gen Prayut's aides issued the wrong order to arrest the 14 students. From obscurity, they achieved fame while the authorities lost respect. Even those in favour of forceful censorship have been forced to listen to the students, and to their new friends and supporters.
The group was detained under the martial proclamation banning political meetings of more than four people. Once they were detained, the students attracted crowds 20 times that size. But there were no arrests in front of the Bangkok Remand Prison. The regime appeared too embarrassed to explain why one group was jailed while much larger ones were not even challenged.
Prime Minister Prayut said he had spoken to judicial authorities and made "suggestions" on how to handle the case. He broadcast this startling revelation himself, to the media. The sight of a superior officer influencing the actions of a court — even a military court — is a surprising admission.
It also showed that while Gen Prayut says he must let the wheels of justice roll, he can influence, affect or even reverse that process.
The New Democracy Movement 14 never should have been detained. They should now be pardoned. It is supremely ironic that while pressing sedition charges and courts-martial against the students, authorities are supporting a clause in the new constitution to provide amnesty for all those charged with political-type charges.
This is a clear case of no harm and no foul. The students broke a law that is rarely enforced, and broken daily. They neither caused nor called for violence. Gen Prayut's office minister agrees both they and their cause are pure.
It seems that almost every government has to learn all over again that there will always be citizens who disagree, honestly, with its policies. They deserve a voice, even a seat at the table, but never a prison cell for their thoughts.