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Thai court convicts 1st 'Yellow Shirt' protesters
Associated Press - December 30, 2011
Bangkok – A Thai court ordered prison terms Thursday for 79 members of the right-wing, nationalist "Yellow Shirt" movement who stormed a state television station two years ago armed with guns, knives and clubs.
The convictions are the first major court ruling against members of the People's Alliance for Democracy, who are best known for seizing a government compound and Bangkok's two airports in 2008 as part of their campaign to bring down a government allied with deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Leaders of the airport shutdown have never been prosecuted, leading to growing complaints from rival "Red Shirt" protesters that they have been spared punishment because of support from the monarchy and ruling elite.
Bangkok's Criminal Court sentenced the 79 yellow shirt members to prison terms from nine months to two-and-a-half years on charges ranging from illegal gun possession, illegal entry, illegal assembly and destroying public property. Six other activists were given suspended prison sentences.
No yellow shirt leaders were charged, only activists who served as guards for the protesters. Defense attorney Kanisorn Thapabhuppha said the group planned to appeal.
"This ruling does not show that there is justice in Thailand," said Jatuporn Prompan, a key Red Shirt leader who noted that a parliamentarian from the ruling Democrat Party who joined the raid had not been prosecuted.
"Every color must receive justice equally. Justice must have no color," said Jatuporn, himself a lawmaker who has benefited from parliamentary immunity.
Nearly all the other Red Shirt leaders are being detained on terrorism charges stemming from their two month protest in the center of Bangkok earlier this year. Those rallies saw sporadic clashes between protesters and the military that left more than 90 people dead.
The Red Shirts – many supporters of Thaksin who hail from the poor, rural parts of Thailand – point to a lack of prosecution against Yellow Shirt leaders as one example of the class divide that fueled their protests.
The Yellow Shirts began their protests in the months before Thaksin was ousted in a coup in September 2006. They have since rallied against governments allied with Thaksin and have called for election laws to be rewritten so that rural voters don't hold as much power.
The Red Shirts want new elections, saying the coup and subsequent court rulings to remove Thaksin-allied parties from power were illegal and went against the will of voters.
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