The 22 protesters deny charges of committing sedition and a number of other offenses, which include majesty, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison for each charge.
“They can lock me up, but they can not lock the truth,” shouted Parit ‘Penguin’ Chiwarak, protest leader, as he arrived in a prison car as he greeted the three-fingered ‘Hunger Games’, synonymous with the youth movement.
“The truth is always the truth, whether it is in prison, under torture or in anticipation of execution, the truth,” Parit, 22, said. as sedition.
Thailand’s youth movement has so far posed the biggest challenge to Prime Minister and former coup leader Prayut Chan-o-cha, who they say has designed a process that would preserve the political status quo and keep him in power after ‘ an election in 2019. Prayut rejected it.
Protesters also broke a traditional taboo by demanding reform of the powerful monarchy, saying that the constitution that the army drafted after the coup in 2014 may give the king too much.
The duration of the trial will be determined later on Monday after the defense and prosecution discussed how many witnesses both parties will ask for the case, stemming from a September protest.