A Briton and an Australian who took part in the Bangkok mayhem and redshirt protests in May were charged yesterday with breaking emergency laws and face a possible two years in prison.
Briton Jeff Savage, 48, screamed abusive comments about PM Abhisit Vejjajiva and his wife as he was led past reporters yesterday. He called Abhisit "a murderer."
Australian Connor Purcell, 30, who was a regular speaker at redshirt protests, said "I'm confident I can beat the charges."
Video footage showed Savage shouting his intention to set fire to the Central World shopping mall after the redshirt leaders surrendered and ended the protests. "We're gonna smash the Central (World) Plaza, we're gonna loot everything, gold, watches, everything, and then we're gonna burn it to the ground," Savage said in the video.
The defence is expected to call Dr weng Tojirakarn, a redshirt leader now detained under terrorism charges, to testify in the Australian's favour. The court set the next hearing for July 28.
The public prosecutor yesterday filed two separate lawsuits against the two men - and while the court read the charges to them with help of a translator, the two denied any wrongdoing.
As the trial will not take place until August or September, there was no bail application for them and they were sent to the Bangkok Remand Prison.
Former Thai Rak Thai leader Chaturon Chaisang yesterday reported himself to the Lumpini police station to answer charges of violating the security ban by attending and making speeches at the redshirt rally.
Chaturon's charges are based on provisions in the Internal Security Act and not related to the state of emergency imposed after his appearances at the rally.
After police completed booking him, he said he denied all charges and that he had submitted the transcribed copies of his recorded speeches made at Rajdamnoen and Rajprasong rally sites as proof of his innocence.
"What I said was aimed at demanding democracy and warning the government not to use force against the people," he said, insisting there was no justification for charges against him.
He said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was the culprit for ordering the people killed, hence he should be facing charges instead of persecuting his opponents.
Chaturon ruled out allegations he and the opposition tried to derail the road map for reconciliation.
"No one is trying to block the reconciliation but the problem is no genuine plans existed to bring about reconciliation," he said.
He said the prime minister's road map was a pretext to destroy his opponents, arguing the process was dominated by the progovernment camp.
"Reconciliation does not seem to make sense because the prime minister said he would not mend fences with terrorists - when he is, in fact, the true terrorist after using the military forces to crackdown on protesters," he said.
He also voiced scepticism that the Kanit na Nakorn panel could uncover the truth related to the unrest, saying although Kanit is a capable figure, he has to work under conditions imposed by the government.