Activist Jittra Cotshadet, who was arrested yesterday at Suvarnabhumi airport after flying in from Sweden, has denied violating an order to report to military officials.
The 42-year-old labour activist and candidate in the cancelled Feb 2 election was apprehended after she disembarked from her flight.
Immigration Police asked her to sign a document conceding that she defied the 44th announcement of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on June 1, which summoned her to report to the military, but Ms Jittra refused.
She was taken to the Crime Suppression Division so that formal charges could be processed against her.
Ms Jittra, an advocate of bail rights for political prisoners including those on lese majeste charges, departed Thailand on April 24, a day after red-shirt poet Kamol Duangphasuk, 45, known by the pseudonym Mai Nueng Kor Kunthee, was murdered in Bangkok.
“I did not defy the NCPO’s order at all. Upon learning I had been summoned I reported on June 3 at the Thai embassy in Stockholm, where I had been holidaying with Swedish friends at their invitation,” Ms Jittra said. “I believe the embassy is part of the Thai state and since I could not get back to Bangkok right away, that’s where I went.”
Ms Jittra endeared herself to the red shirts by protesting against the government of former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva with a banner saying that he was “only good at talking”.
At the Feb 2 polls, which were later voided by the Constitutional Court, Ms Jittra, from Suphan Buri, ran as a party-list MP for Palang Prachatipatai (the Democratic Force Party).
Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) has raised concerns about the military’s detention of activists and political figures since the coup on May 22.
“Stability and reconciliation can hardly be achieved in Thailand if human rights guarantees are neglected,” a group of independent UN experts said.