Thai Students Released But Still On Trial

A Thai military court has released 14 students arrested for staging an anti-junta protest, but they still face sedition charges that carry a maximum jail term of seven years.



The Bangkok court's decision Tuesday was not completely unexpected, as the junta and the military-installed government – which seized power after a coup last year – had come under a barrage of domestic and international criticisms over the arrests last month.



The judges rejected the military prosecutor's request to detain the students for another 12 days, saying that they did not present a flight risk, according to the Bangkok Post. They are accused of violating a military order banning gatherings of more than five people.



Sulak Sivaraksa, a prominent Thai political analyst and intellectual, had told Anadolu Agency barely two hours before the judges' decision of "divisions among junta members on the students' case."



"Some say they should be let free, so that it stops the beginning of something bad, but some others are willing to punish them," he said.



Sivaraksa referred to how one of the largest massacres of civilians in Thai history, the Oct. 14, 1973 popular uprising, had been triggered by the arrest of several students.



More than a hundred protesters had been killed after taking to the streets to call for the removal of Prime Minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn after the government deployed tanks, helicopters and infantrymen to handle the situation.



Over the weekend, there had been signs of authorities softening their stance on the 14 students' detention. Panadda Diskul, minister of the prime minister's office, had said that students were "a source of purity" and that authorities "recognize their political rights."



The students -- 13 males and one female, all members of an informal group named "Neo-democracy Movement" -- were arrested June 25 for staging a protest against the junta.



They had refused to be released on bail, saying such a move would be equivalent to recognizing the legitimacy of the military government.



The European Union said in a statement last week that their detention was a "disturbing development," while the United Nations Office for Human Rights called for a "drop of the criminal charges."



Human Rights Watch has also criticized the use of military courts by the generals "as a central feature of their crackdown against peaceful criticism and political dissent."



On Friday, more than 500 protesters gathered in downtown Bangkok for around two hours to demand the students' release in one of the largest shows of defiance against the military dictatorship this year.



Since coming into power in May 2014, Thailand's military government has cracked down on dissent and civil liberty.



The military argues that such measures are necessary to ensure "national security" and a smooth transition back to democracy. - Krung Thep