The criminal lawsuit, which was filed by Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban, will be heard on July 3, the date the judges have ordered the commissioners to appear before the court.

However, the court rejected Suthep's defamation charge against the four commissioners, ruling that there were not enough grounds to proceed with it.

The judges concluded that although the defamation suit points to a political

party as the alleged perpetrator, the case would not stand in a court as this was only implied and no specific individual had been named.

Suthep declined to make any comments following previous warnings from the judges regarding his interviews to the media. "[If I talk] I might end up being prosecuted myself," he said.

Defence lawyer Sathaporn Pakdeewong said he was confident the embattled election commissioners would prevail. He told The Nation that his strategy would be to stick "to the letter of the law".

Despite public and media condemnation of the commissioners over their refusal to resign, Sathaporn said he firmly believed the commissioners were not guilty of breaking the law. "Otherwise I would not be taking up the case," he added.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation