PM sorry for man's suicide over Article 44

BANGKOK, Feb 26 (TNA) -- Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha and his government are deeply sorrow and want to express condolences to the family of an elderly man who hanged himself after demanding the government to revoke Article 44 under the interim constitution on the controversial Buddhist temple near Bangkok, said a government spokesman. The tragic incident occurred at about 9pm Saturday when the unidentified man held a banner on a cellphone tower, protesting the current raid on Wat Dhammakaya, the temple in Bangkok’s neighbouring province of Pathum Thani. The tower is located near the temple. The man later hanged himself at the tower. Gen Prayut, also leader of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has imposed powerful Article 44 against the temple, enabling thousands of police and army personnel to search the temple. Government forces are still surrounding the temple at present. Spokesman Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the tragic incident should not have happened because government authorities had put efforts in negotiating with the victim before he committed suicide. He said the order under Section 44 should not be taken as the cause of the man's death. “Those who support Wat Dhammakaya, both the monks and followers, shouldn’t let this kind of incident happened,” said Lt Gen Sansern. “They shouldn’t protect a few wrongdoers and yet they finally said the victim wasn’t follower of the temple”. Government forces laying siege of the temple want to arrest a former abbot Phra Dhammajayo on money laundering and several other charges. The ex-abbot is still at large to date. In another development, the NCPO on Saturday invoked Article 44 stripping Pranom Sonsill, Director General of Office of National Buddhism, and replaced him with the Department of Special Investigation's Bureau of Taxation Crime Director Pol Lt Col Pongporn Pramsaneh. The order cited that the replacement was needed to boost efficiency of Buddhist monks and the state as well as resolving prevailing problems. (TNA)