AMNESTY BILLFA #2PANG

#3MAY #5

FON #11

NOEY #20

• The ruling Pheu Thai Party's move to press ahead with the revised 

amnesty bill offering a blanket reprieve will eventually lead to a political  confrontation lawyers and academics have warned .

• The amnesty bill contains a hidden political agenda of the Pheu Thai Party to help ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra get away with his crimes.

• Thaksin has remained overseas in self-imposed exile since being sentenced in 2008

by the Supreme Court to two years in prison for abuse of authority in the Ratchadaphisek land sale case. 

 • Phairote Pholphet, president of the Human Rights

Lawyers Association said the new version grants a blanket amnesty without determining who were the offenders. 

• The original version of the bill put forward by Pheu Thai MP for Samut Prakan Worachai Hema would not have granted an amnesty to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and the protest leaders and authorities responsible for the red-shirt protest crackdown but would have included all others convicted of crimes relating to political violence. 

• But the panel voted to approve revisions to Section 3 of the bill to grant a 

blanket amnesty to all people involved in political unrest including protest leaders, soldiers, and authorities responsible for ordering the crackdowns. 

• The amended section would also invalidate the decisions of the now-defunct Asset Scrutiny Committee (ASC) which investigated alleged irregularities of the Thaksin Shinawatra administration after the 2006 coup, as well as those by the National Anti-Corruption Commission which took over the ASC's cases. 

• The ASC's investigations led to the Supreme Court ruling in 2010 to seize assets worth 46 billion baht from Thaksin's family after finding he had abused his power to benefit its telecom business. 

• The bill' s critics believe the draft legislation will benefit Thaksin and they suspected it would lead to the return of Thaksin's seized assets worth 46 billion baht.

VOCABULARY• Alleged : claimed to be true although not yet proven;

claimed to have done something wrong but not yet proven - ที่��ถู�กกล่�าวหา

• Confrontation : a situation in which people or groups are arguing angrily or are fighting

- การเผชิ�ญหน้�า• Crackdown : strong action that someone in authority

takes to stop a particular activity - การใชิ�ก�าล่�งสล่ายผ��ประที่�วง• Offender : a person who is guilty of a crime - ผ��กระที่�าความผ�ด• Ousted : forced out of a position of power - ขั�บออกจากอ�าน้าจ• Ruling : having control over a particular group, country,

etc - ซึ่$�งม�อ�าน้าจ, ซึ่$�งปกครอง

VOCABULARY• Reprieve : officially cancelling or delaying a

punishment - การชิะล่อการล่งโที่ษ, การรอการล่งโที่ษ• Seize : to take something using official power - ย$ด• Revise : to change, improve, or make additions to

something - แก�ไขั• Grant : to officially give something - ให�• Critic : a person who expresses disapproval of

somebody/something and talks about their bad qualities, especially publicly - ผ��ว�จารณ์*, ผ��จ�บผ�ด, ผ��ว�เคราะห*

• Blanket : affecting or aimed at everyone or everything equally, even when this is not sensible or fair - ครอบคล่+ม, กว�าง

VOCABULARY

• Panel : a group of people who make decisions or judgments - คณ์ะกรรมการ

• Amend : to make changes to a document, law, agreement, etc. especially in order to improve it - แก�ไขั

• Convicted : having been proven guilty of a crime by a court of law - ต้�องโที่ษ, ได�ร�บการพิ�ส�จน้*ว�าขั�อกล่�าวหาม�ความผ�ดจร�ง

• Invalidate : to make something such as a document, contract, or process no longer legally effective - ที่�าให�เป.น้โมฆะ