Amnesty for coup forces

Press, 7 May 1981, Page 7

Amnesty for coup forces

NZPA Bangkok King Bhumipol Adulyadej of Thailand has granted amnesty to participants in the abortive coup d’etat against the Prime Minister (General Prem Tinsulanonda) last month, Radio Thailand has announced. The announcement said amnesty would be granted only to those who gave themselves up to the investigation committee, set up on April 3 after the 56-hour uprising. Fifty-three persons, comprising military officers, police officers, and civilians, gave themselves up after the coup was crushed when forces loyal to General Prem moved on Bangkok from a north-eastern military base and regained control of the capital. Nineteen people, believed to be key participants in the rebellion, were still under detention at the Ban Khen detention centre in Bangkok yesterday. Radio Thailand said they would be released after the king’s decree is published in the Royal Gazette, probably later this week. The announcement of amnesty comes on Coronation Day, marking the King’s thirty-first anniversary on the throne. Protocol under Thailand's constitutional monarchy calls for the Prime Minister to implement decisions announced on the Royal Gazette. The 19 detainees were facing possible charges for crimes ranging from treason to creating unrest. Another. >'34 'were earlier released on oaili ’General' Prem, also com-jnander-imchief of the Army, earlier this week ordered the dissolution of two military commissions set up to investigate officers implicated in the coup attempt.