The Criminal Court has rejected the third bail request for four key Ratsadon members held on charges of lese majeste, even though a former university rector and an ex-dean offered to be their guarantors.
Charnvit Kasetsiri, who was rector of Thammasat University from 1994-95, and Panas Tassaneeyanon, dean of the faculty of law from 1986-88, arrived at the court at 1pm on Monday to offer themselves as the guarantors for the temporary releases of Arnon Nampa, Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, Somyot Prueksakasemsuk and Patiwat “Mor Lam Bank” Saraiyaem.
Their lawyers also increased the sureties for them to 400,000 from 300,000 baht each.
The court denied the request, citing the same reasons for the dismissals of the previous two requests — the offence carried a high penalty and there were reasons to believe the suspects would repeat the offence if they were released on bail.
It then read the Feb 15 order of the Appeal Court denying the request, which says their speeches and acts tarnished the monarchy and hurt the feelings of loyal Thais.
Mr Arnon, Mr Parit, Mr Somyot and Mr Patiwat were indicted and remanded on Feb 9, for lese majeste (Section 112 of the Criminal Code), sedition (Section 116), violating the Ancient Sites Act, and lesser charges for their roles during the rally at Sanam Laung on Sept 19 last year.
Mr Parit also faced another lese majeste charge for his role during the Mob Fest at the Democracy Monument on Nov 14 last year.
Unlike detention during an investigation, which comes in rounds of 12 days each, pre-trial detention could go on for years until the court passes a final ruling.