Judges to rule on ex-PM's return
Deposed PM Thaksin Shinawatra should be the last witness to be called in the party dissolution case if he has to return to the country to testify, Council for National Security chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin said yesterday.
Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party has listed him as its first witness to testify in the trial for alleged electoral fraud.Sonthi said Thaksin should be the last witness to be summoned because the country had to be put in order first. Although the Constitution Tribunal can hear witnesses' testimony via video-conference, the judges had yet to decide whether to do so or to have Thaksin testify in person or via a written statement, Constitution Tribunal judge Kitisak Kitikunpairot said. "Statements given through the three methods carry the same weight because the court accepts them all." The decision on how Thaksin should testify would consider human rights, national security and reasons by both the prosecution and defence, he said, but "judges are entitled to make this decision".
|
