Thaksin to file complaint over claims he orchestrated violence

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has decided to take legal action against certain figures in the opposition Democrat Party for accusing him of masterminding violence during the political unrest in mid-2010.

A spokesman for the ruling Pheu Thai Party, Prompong Nopparit, said yesterday that Thaksin's lawyers would file a complaint tomorrow with Lumpini police against Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and other leading Democrats - Suthep Thaugsuban, Korn Chatikavanij, Sathit Pitutecha, and Sirichok Sopha - for allegedly slandering the ex-leader.

Prompong said the Democrats' allegations that Thaksin was behind an alleged plot to cause violence during the red shirts' protest two years ago damaged Thaksin's reputation.

At the latest weekly gathering of supporters in Bangkok's Lumpini Park last Saturday, the Democrats argued that armed men were hired to cause violence during the 10-week protest in 2010. They accused Thaksin of being involved in a plot to regain power despite the fact it would cost the lives of many people, including his red-shirt supporters.