Thaksin supporters to submit pardon petition on Aug. 17

The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) group plan to submit a pardon petition for ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary on Aug. 17, Thai language news agency INN reported. Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in September, 2006, in accusation of corruption, and kept in exile since then. Thaksin returned to Thailand in February, 2008, to face corruption charges, but he later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia. The UDD group, or the red-shirted people, have claimed that they have already gathered at least 5 million names of the Thai people -- the supporters of Thaksin, which will be used to support the pardon petition. In a related development, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has reiterated Monday the UDD core leaders must be responsible if any signatures solicited to support the attempted royal pardon have been falsely obtained. "I reiterate that political activities must not affect the nation's main institution (the monarchy)," the website by The Nation newspaper quoted Abhisit assaying. Also, the prime minister added that: "those, who receive (personal) benefit from this should stop their action." Late last week, Democrat Party's chief adviser Chuan Leekpai has reminded the Democrat-led government to be mindful of the ongoing political plot by the red-shirted group aiming to cause the coalition government to collapse. The supporters of Thaksin might attempt to use the signature campaign as a pretext to stage a next move to undermine the Democrat-led government, Chuan, the former Thai premier, warned.
VietNamNet/Xinhuanet