Thai
media boss fights gag
order By David Ogan of ThaiDay
BANGKOK - Sondhi Limthongkul, founder of Thailand's
Manager Media Group and a staunch critic of Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, will petition the
Civil Court on Wednesday to rescind last
Thursday's court injunction that prohibits him
from publicly criticizing the premier.
Sondhi's lawyer, Suwat Apaipakdi, said he
was authorized to file for an emergency court
hearing to rescind the gag order on the grounds
that Sondhi's public criticisms of the prime
minister did not violate provisions of the
constitution.
The latest move came as
lawyers working for the prime minister
contemplated a second court
injunction completely barring Sondhi from further
criticizing Thaksin. It also came amid front-page
headlines about the rift
between
the two former allies, and swelling
numbers of people attending Sondhi's popular talk
show.
Thana Benjathikul, head of
the prime minister's legal team, told ThaiDay that
despite last week's injunction it may be necessary
to request that the court issue a second, complete
gag order, since Sondhi allegedly utilized legal
loopholes to continue talking
about
Thaksin and his relatives Friday during the
ninth installment of his talk show, Thailand This Week.
"Our team is quite stressed because Khun
[Mr] Sondhi has used legal loopholes to continue
his attacks ... We will probably have to ask for a
second court injunction - this time to order him
to completely refrain from all criticism of the
prime minister," Thana said.
This
further action
will be a criminal libel lawsuit, the contents
of which will be similar to a third lawsuit against
Sondhi filed on Thursday in the Civil Court in
which the prime minister demanded one billion baht
(US$24 million) in compensatory damages.
Last month, Thaksin
personally took out criminal and civil lawsuits
against Sondhi and the Manager Media Group that demanded
a total of one billion baht in compensation
for allegedly defaming comments Sondhi made and for
an article that quoted comments by a revered monk about
the prime minister.
Thana said his legal
team would meet to discuss what Sondhi said during
last Friday's show, to determine if there were
grounds for any more lawsuits.
Speaking in central Lumpini Park in Bangkok to
a huge audience, whose numbers swelled to
an estimated 80,000 Friday night, Sondhi
continued his broadside against the government and some
of the prime minister's relatives. He
was particularly critical of an incident in which a Royal
Thai Air Force (RTAF) C-130 transport plane
was apparently used to carry a large number of prominent
personalities to attend the birthday party in
Chiang Mai city of one of Thaksin's younger
sisters, Monthathip Kowitcharoenkul.
Thursday's injunction also
prevents the sale of VCDs of Sondhi's Thailand
This Week
show
and the publication of negative comments about
Thaksin and his family on Manager Online, a
popular web site run by the Manager Media Group.
Also Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister
Wissanu Krea-ngam told cable operators countrywide
that satellite feeds of ASTV, the station that
airs Sondhi's live show, did not have the proper
permits to broadcast, but he did not provide
details.
In a surprise development last
week, Supreme Commander of the Thai military,
General Ruengroj Mahasaranond, issued a warning,
saying that Sondhi could face the wrath of the
military. "Like other citizens, soldiers have the
right to warn against inappropriate acts. Should
their warning go unheeded, the armed forces as a
national institution will then step in," he said.
Earlier this month, a
homemade bomb exploded on the grounds of Manager Media
Group. No one was injured.
about
Thaksin and his relatives Friday during the
ninth installment of his talk show, Thailand This Week.
