A military court on Wednesday night rejected a bail request for Chaturon Chaisaeng and approved the investigator's request to detain him for 12 days pending a court hearing.
"Don't worry about me," says Mr Chaturon while being taken to the Bangkok military court on Wednesday. - WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM
Mr Chaturon has been charged with defying the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)'s summons and making public statements which might incite unrest in the kingdom.
For the first charge, the maximum penalty is a two years' jail term or a fine of 40,000 baht. The other is a criminal charge under Section 116 with a jail term not exceeding seven years.
He was held at the Bangkok Remand Prison on Ngam Wong Wan Road.
He was whisked away while holding a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on Tuesday.
The key figure of Pheu Thai Party was taken from an undisclosed location to the Crime Suppression Division at about 5pm for questioning. His lawyer applied for bail there.
During a 45-minute inquiry at the CSD, Mr Chaturon denied the charges laid against him.
"I'm well. I didn't know where I was taken to last night as I was blindfolded. The place appeared to be a detention place. Don't worry about me,” Mr Chaturon told reporters before he was escorted to the military court.
The ex-education minister is a first civilian to be tried by the court-martial after the NCPO issued an order to transfer the jurisdiction of cases involving violations of its orders to the military court this week.