Students to be released from jail

ABOVE: Supporters of 14 detained students protest outside the military court where they were to appear today. Photo: Christophe Archambault / AFP

A group of Thai students detained over a peaceful anti-coup rally will be released from jail later today but sedition charges against them will be upheld, their lawyer said, in a case that has sparked international condemnation.

The 14 students are part of a small network of pro-democracy campaigners who dared to publicly challenge Thailand’s military rulers after they seized power from an elected government last year and imposed sweeping curbs on civil liberties.

The activists comprised of university students in their 20s, including one woman have been in custody since late June.

They were detained after holding a peaceful protest at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument and charged with sedition, which caries up to seven years in jail.

Today, Krisadang Nutcharut, a lawyer representing some of the students, told AFP the military court denied a police request to detain the activists for another 12 days.

“The students have shown no sign of wanting to escape (the country). Detention is preventing them from fighting their case… They will be released later today,” Krisadang said, adding that charges against the group had been upheld.

The case, slammed by rights groups as a serious escalation in repression by the junta, is being handled by Bangkok’s military court where there is no right of appeal once convicted and hearings are often held behind closed doors.

Today morning soldiers cordoned off access to the court to journalists and supporters of the activists, who held up photographs of the students and called and sang for their release in defiance of earlier warnings by Thailand’s army chief.

Last week the European Union and the United Nations Human Rights Office added their voice to that of rights groups, calling on Thailand to drop the charges and free the activists from custody.