Four leaders of the red shirts denied charges yesterday that they incited violence at a protest that erupted into riotous scenes outside the home of Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda in July 2007.
Veera Musigapong, Nattha-wut Saikua, Vipoothalaeng Pattanapoomthai, and weng Tojirakarn showed up at the Criminal Court yesterday to be formally informed about the charges against them.
They were charged with stirring unrest, threatening officials and resisting orders to end an illegal protest.
The four allegedly led thousands of red shirt protesters to gather near Prem's Sisao Thewet residence to pressure him resign as chief royal adviser.
The red shirts accused Prem of giving key backing for the coup in September 2006.
Lawyers for the four leaders sought to call 58 witnesses for the trial but the court ruled yesterday that hearing from 25 would be sufficient.
The court also merged the case with another one filed against Nopparuj Worachit-wuthikul and two other red-shirt supporters facing similar charges in connection with the same incident. In the latter case, the defence sought to question 17 witnesses.
The court set October 5 for the first hearing of prosecution witnesses and November 10 for the first hearing of defence witnesses.
In a related development, the Criminal Court yesterday postponed an initial hearing of a case filed by Suthachai Yimprasert, a pro-red shirt lecturer at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Arts, until November 15.
Suthachai accused Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban, and the Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd of malfeasance and libel for producing and distributing to the media a diagram in which Suthachai is described as being in a network of people allegedly planning to overthrow the monarchy.
The court postponed the hearing because Sansern had not received a summons for the hearing and he had yet to appoint a lawyer to represent him in the case.