The Criminal Court yesterday rejected a request for bail by red-shirt leader and Pheu Thai MP Korkaew Pikulthong.
Korkaew: Reasons not good enough
Jessada Chandee, Mr Korkaew's lawyer, applied for bail for the Pheu Thai list-MP so he could join in today's celebrations for His Majesty the King's birthday. His lawyer offered 600,000 baht as surety.
Mr Korkaew said he wanted to join the nation in celebrating the monarch's birthday and attend the Samosorn Sannibat, the annual state reception on Friday.
As a member of the House committee on economic development, he was scheduled to travel outside the country from Dec 8-14.
On Nov 30, the court revoked Mr Korkaew's bail for violating the conditions of his release after he threatened Constitution Court judges in a speech.
The court said in their rejection of his lawyer's request that Mr Korkaew's reasons for bail were not good enough. Mr Korkaew was not prohibited from showing his loyalty to His Majesty the King, the judges added.
"Taking part in the state reception is an opportunity and the defendant has denied himself the opportunity by violating the bail conditions," the court said. As for the overseas trip, the court said there was no guarantee that Mr Korkaew would not violate his bail conditions again after being released.
Mr Korkaew is one of six red-shirt leaders charged with terrorism. The five others have been released on bail.
Democrat MP Nipit Intarasombat filed a petition asking the court to withdraw bail after Mr Korkaew warned the Constitution Court against intervening in parliament's debate on the charter amendment. He said if the court stepped in, red shirts would come out and fight.