Previous PDRC member’s sentence is upheld, but the Supreme Court suspends it.
PUBLISHED: 28 May 2024 at 19: 46
A opposition leader who obstructed the 2014 general election was given an eight-month jail term that was suspended for two years by the Supreme Court.
The Criminal Court on Tuesday read the ruling in the case filed against Sonthiyan Chuenruethainaitham, 62, a former core member of the now- defunct People’s Democratic Reform Committee ( PDRC ), and three others.
They were Sakoltee Phattiyakul, 47, a former Democrat Party MP for Bangkok, Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, 73, a former rector of the National Institute of Development Administration ( Nida ), and Seri Wongmontha, 75, a well- known mass media and marketing expert.
The lower judge previously acquitted the four defendants. The Court of Appeal upheld the verdicts in 2021, but in the early 20th century Sonthiyan was found guilty of conspiring to obstruct expand voting at Sukhothai School  in Bangkok’s Dusit city by conspiring with others to destroy the vote.
Because of his valuable testimony, the Court of Appeal reduced his sentence to a year in prison and reduced it to eight months. Additionally, the judge placed a five-year suspension on his voting rights.
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Sonthiyan’s eight- quarter prison term was correct. But, it did not agree that he should offer a prison term, but it suspended his word for two decades and fined him 20, 000 baht.
The four accused had been charged with insurrection, judicial organization, unlawful assembly, incitement of hits and obstructing an vote.
In connection with the PDRC protests against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra between November 2013 and May 2014, the charges were brought against them in 2014.
In Bangkok and many other parts of the country, the snap election scheduled for February 2, 2014 in an effort to restore political order was seriously hampered. The results were voided in the following month by the Constitutional Court. Political chaos continued, culminating in the coup carried out by Gen Prayut Chan- o- cha on May 22, 2014.