Thai historian harassed for backing democracy movement

Thailand

Charnvit Kasetsiri says he was likely targeted because of his opposition to the government

A prominent Thai historian is being harassed over his vocal support for the youth-led pro-democracy movement in one of the latest cases of reported harassment by Thai authorities.

Charnvit Kasetsiri, 81, a well-known historian who once served as the rector of Thammasat University in Bangkok, was recently paid a home visit by several men who appeared to be plainclothes police officers, according to an account of the visit posted on social media along with CCTV images of the men and their vehicles.

The men told security guards at the condominium in Bangkok that they planned to question the elderly historian over his support for student-led protests where demonstrators have been demanding democratic reforms in a country ruled by a military-allied government.

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Charnvit, who was not at home at the time of the visit, said he was likely targeted because of his opposition to the current government, whose head, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, seized power in a coup in 2014.

The historian has lent his support to youth-led pro-democracy protests and has been campaigning for detained activists to be released from prison.

Since the outbreak of frequent mass protests against Prayut’s government in 2020, numerous activists have reported being harassed by police and plainclothes officers at home over their participation in rallies during which demonstrators demanded that the former army chief resign.

International rights groups have been calling on Thailand’s military-allied government to desist from persecuting and prosecuting democracy activists

Thai authorities have often responded to these protests by employing violent crowd control measures, including the use of rubber bullets, live rounds and tear gas, which saw several protesters suffer serious injuries.

At the same time, hundreds of demonstrators, including numerous minors as young as 14, have been charged with various crimes, including sedition and royal defamation, which could see them jailed for years or even decades.

International rights groups have been calling on Thailand’s military-allied government to desist from persecuting and prosecuting democracy activists.

“Thai authorities have repeatedly deployed reckless and violent tactics to quell the country’s burgeoning youth protest movement including beating demonstrators, firing chemicals from water cannon and shooting rubber bullets at close range,” Amnesty International noted in a report last year.

Human Rights Watch has concurred in its own report released earlier this year.

“Respect for human rights in Thailand has gone from bad to worse while the government’s promises of reform remain unfulfilled,” Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, observed in a statement.

Both rights groups have called on Thai authorities to stop harassing pro-democracy activists over their views.

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