The Criminal Court has granted bail to two key Ratsadon protesters — Parit "Penguin" Chiwarak and Chai-amorn Kaewwiboonpan — after they agreed not to get involved in activities deemed to dishonour the monarchy or stir up unrest.
They are also prohibited from leaving the kingdom without permission and required to report to the court by schedule.
In approving the bail requests, the court on Tuesday decided the nature of their cases had changed — it was the first time they offered not to tarnish the institution — and public prosecutors no longer opposed their temporary releases.
For Mr Parit, the court set the bonds at 200,000 baht each for the Mob Fest case and the Ratsadon plaque case.
Since Mr Parit has faced more than 20 royal defamation charges, he could be re-arrested and held in pre-trial detention again for any of them.
For the singer Chai-amorn, better known as "Ammy The Bottom Blues”, the court set the bonds at 50,000 baht for the Ratsadon plaque case and 200,000 baht for the royal portrait blaze case.
The court, however, put off the bail request hearing for another key protester, Panupong Jaadnok.
Corrections officials told the court that Mr Panupong was in close contact with Arnon Nampa, another co-leader who had tested positive for Covid-19 last week. While Mr Panupong was cleared in the first test on May 6, another test was required before he could go out.
Mrs Sureerat Chiwarak, Mr Parit’s mother, had earlier sought bail for her son nine times since he had been charged with lese majeste on Feb 9. The court had denied all of them, saying there was no reason to change their decision.
As of Tuesday, Mr Parit was in pre-trial detention for 93 days and on hunger strike for 59 days. Mr Chai-amorn was detained for 70 days.
Earlier, three key protesters were released on bail after they had agreed to the same conditions. They were Somyot Prueksakasemsk, Jatupat "Pai Dao Din" Boontararaksa and Panusaya "Rung" Sithijirawattanakul.
