People who are detained while awaiting indictment will soon receive compensation if public prosecutors decide not to indict them, a Justice Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
The Justice Fund Committee members made the resolution at a meeting on financial aid for people whose human rights are violated, said Tawatchai Thaikiew, who is also deputy permanent secretary for justice.
Mr Tawatchai said the compensation would apply to an accused who is detained for an alleged offence and then not indicted. It also covers a defendant who receives prison sentence less than the time of his or her imprisonment prior to the court’s ruling.
These cases were not covered by the 2001 act on compensation for damaged parties and defendants in criminal cases. As a result, innocenent people have to spend time in jail for the crime they did not committed, Mr Tawatchai noted.
Under the new rules, they would be entitled to receive the same rate of compensation stipulated in the 2001 law which offers 200 baht per day for an accused or defendant for being unable to work while being detained, starting on the first day of his incarceration.
Those who are injured during imprisonment and later found not guilty will receive a maximum of 30,000 baht for medical compensation.
Mr Tawatchai said the new regulation would take effect once they were published in the Royal Gazette.