Police arrest ex-NIDA rector/PDRC leader on treason charges

BANGKOK, May 16 (TNA) - Police have arrested a core leader of the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, who is a former rector of Bangkok-based National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), on treason charges. Sombat, who is also a former student leader during Thailand's historic pro-democracy popular uprising in the 1970s, was apprehended at NIDA's parking lot on Friday morning and was later sent for interrogations by the caretaker government-run Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO). The arrest followed the Criminal Court's approval of arrest warrants against a group of over 43 PDRC leaders, including Sombat, for joining the PDRC rallies. Denying police charges, Sombat insisted he would continue joining the PDRC in toppling the current caretaker government, as he did not conduct any illegal activity. Sombat claimed that he intended to report himself to police next week, after Bangkok's Criminal Court approved an arrest warrant against him earlier this week. Sombat also said he would seek a release on bail by using his professor position at NIDA as a guarantee. CAPO Chief Chalerm Yubumrung proposed, meanwhile, that a public referendum organised to seek Thai people's opinions whether they want a national reform before the next general election, as demanded by PDRC protesters, or the next general election prior to a national reform, which is in line with the democratic system. Caretaker Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt suggested although not all good people would be elected from an election, a national poll is the best way to ease the ongoing domestic political strife, pointing out that establishing an interim government to conduct a national reform, as proposed by several politicians and academics, is not different from the current caretaker government. A spokesman of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, in the meantime, submitted a letter to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) requesting the OAG to investigate whether Acting Senate Speaker Surachai Liengboonlertchai violates the Constitution, as he is reportedly attempting to appoint an interim prime minister, as demanded by PDRC secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban and other anti-government protesters. The spokesman cited a recent ruling by Bangkok's Constitutional Court that there was no political vacuum in the country and the reported move is, thus, considered that the acting Senate speaker appears to support those accused of treason in an attempt to change the national administration. The OAG accepted the Pheu Thai Party's petition, announcing that a working panel will be set up to probe the issue. (TNA)