Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Thai politics: Snoh: suspend charter, give blanket amnesty



By The Nation


Pracharaj Party leader Snoh Thienthong on Tuesday suggested for two conditions that can lead to national reconciliation and an end to turmoil.

The first condition is that the 2007 Constitution should be suspended and the suspended 1997 charter should be restored to replace it, Snoh said.

He said the political reform by rewriting the charter would lead to nowhere since Thailand had undergone through all the political systems.

The cancellation of the 2007 charter will include the lifting of all transitional clauses which prescribe for the amnesty and the punishment related to the 2006 coup and the turmoil, he said.

Without the transitional clauses, coup leaders would still enjoy the immunity as granted by the 2006 provisional charter and all political convictions by the one-court system and by independent organisations would be cancelled, leading to amnesty for all those involved.

Snoh said he wanted Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to quit in order to pave way for the formation of a national unity government.

The Democrats are entitled to take a lead in the national unity government and Abhisit may stage a comeback as prime minister once again but without the turmoil, he said.

Based on his idea, the amnesty would apply to ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was convicted for conflict of interest by the Supreme Court under the one-tier judicial review.

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