Court revokes Nawat's MP status

Court revokes Nawat's MP status

Murder convict Nawat Tohcharoensuk is no longer a Pheu Thai MP, the Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday.

Nawat: On death row for murder

The court said his status as a parliamentarian effectively ended on Oct 16, when the court ordered him to stop carrying out the functions and responsibilities of a member of parliament.

Nawat was found guilty by Khon Kaen Criminal Court in late September of masterminding the murder of a local administrative official six years ago, and sentenced him to death.

The court also ordered him to pay 300,000 baht for the funeral costs of the murdered man.

Nawat's request for bail pending an appeal was rejected.

The judges found that Nawat ordered the murder because the victim was having an affair with his wife.

The 52-year-old former MP hired five people -- including two former policemen -- to kill Suchart Khotethum, then assistant chief of the Khon Kaen provincial administration organisation.

Suchart was shot dead in front of his home in Khon Kaen's Muang district on May 3, 2013, as he was about to leave for work.

Nawat once ran a construction business in Khon Kaen's Nong Rua district and was an executive of the provincial administrative organisation.

He has also been accused of ordering an assault on fellow Pheu Thai MP, Yutthapong Charassathien, on Sept 10.

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