Of amnesties and royal pardons

CAN HE GET THEM, AND WHAT ARE THEIR DIFFERENCES?

Thaksin was referring to the royal pardon in his long-distance speech to his supporters last Saturday. This has to do with the two-year jail sentence laid down by the Supreme Court in connection with the Ratchadaphisek land case.

But since it was highly unlikely he would receive a royal pardon, for reasons we will discuss later, the People Power Party has been spinning the issue into a campaign to draft an amnesty bill for the 111 Thai Rak Thai executives banned from politics as a result of the party-dissolution ruling.

In short, a royal pardon would be for the Ratchadaphisek land case (imprisonment), whereas an amnesty would be for the party-dissolution case (ban from politics).

WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE CHANCES OF A ROYAL PARDON?

Thailand's legal and political traditions require petitioners to show remorse for their crimes. You can decide for yourself if Thaksin, who has spent most of his time in exile telling the world how bad the Thai courts are, is qualified in this regard.

There are different opinions, though, on whether one must have "served" punishment before receiving royal clemency. Writing yesterday in Matichon newspaper, a senior Law Council of Thailand official cited Article 265 of the Criminal Code, which stipulates an absolute and unconditional pardon means "punishment shall not be served or has to be immediately stopped". This strongly implies one can receive a royal pardon before punishment is served.

WHAT ABOUT LEGAL AMNESTY THEN?

The biggest problem is how a bill can be drafted without being seen as an attempt to override the Constitution Court. The charter is clear on the final and absolute power of Constitution Court rulings, which are legally binding on the government, Parliament, judiciary and all independent organisations.

A smaller obstacle, which is still huge, is the legal rules and convention against "selectiveness" of legislative enactment. Of course, any amnesty bill in nature must be earmarked for specific groups or individuals, but an amnesty for Thai Rak Thai executives found guilty of electoral fraud will prompt serious questions if anyone - for example, other politicians convicted of similar crimes - is left out of the bill.

Those are the legal hurdles, and we have not even mentioned the People's Alliance for Democracy yet.

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