Govt to promote amnesty to public

Govt to promote amnesty to public

The Pheu Thai Party has vowed to convey the benefits of the amnesty bill to the public while parliament is in recess.

Deputy party spokeswoman Anuttama Amornwiwat said yesterday Pheu Thai MPs would approach their constituents to explain the purpose of the bill.

The amnesty bill would boost national reconciliation efforts, she said.

Parliament on Thursday approved moving Pheu Thai MP Worachai Hema's amnesty bill up to the top of the agenda in the next House session in August.

The bill would clear nearly all political offenders charged and jailed between Sept 19, 2006 and May 10, 2011.

The opposition Democrat Party has criticised the amnesty bill, saying it is aimed at exonerating former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is on the run from a two-year jail term.

The sentence was handed to him in 2008 after the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions found him guilty of abusing his power to help buy his then-wife Potjaman Na Pombejra buy a plot of land on Ratchadaphisek Road.

Another deputy Pheu Thai spokesman, Anusorn Iamsa-ard, stressed the bill was intended to help people who participated in political gatherings and it has nothing to do with Thaksin.

Red shirt leaders have also announced that they would not benefit from the bill's implementation, he added, which showed it was merely intended to help ordinary people.

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