Jatuporn loses Democrat lawsuit

Jatuporn loses Democrat lawsuit

The Criminal Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by red shirt core leader Jatuporn Prompan against Democrat Party MP Thepthai Senpong for defamation.

In the libel case, Mr Jatuporn sued the MP for Nakhon Si Thammarat, who accused Mr Jatuporn of leading a group of red shirts to create disorder at the Criminal Court on Ratchadapisek road on June 16, 2010. Mr Thepthai said the action violated the court’s bail conditions, while mob action threatened the judges’ performance of duties.

Mr Thepthai made the comments to the media only a day after a large group of supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), accompanied by Mr Jatuporn, rallied at the court to hear whether it would grant bail to UDD core leaders who were arrested on terrorism charges. 

Thepthai Senpong, left, and Jatuporn Prompan

The court said Mr Thepthai asked the Department of Special Investigation to look into whether Mr Jatuporn’s appearance along with his supporters was a violation of the court's bail conditions. As a result, the comments expressed by the defendant were his honest opinion and questioning.

The crowd appeared to block prison vans from taking UDD leaders to prison after the court refused to accept bail, the court said.   

It pointed out that the plaintiff was regarded as a prominent red shirt leader, as were his jailed colleagues, and the general public including the defendant were likely to believe that he led the red shirts to the court when he turned up there that day.

Therefore, the court found Mr Thepthai’s action was not defamatory and dismissed Mr Jatuporn’s suit.

Mr Thepthai, who was former spokesman of former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, said after the court’s ruling that Mr Jatuporn should not have filed the suit, which just unnecessarily created more work to the court judges. 


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