16 October 2015•Update: 16 October 2015
By Max Constant
BANGKOK
A prominent human rights lawyer has been interrogated for several hours in Thailand after he pushed for an ethics investigation into the leaders of the country's junta, local media reported Friday.
Srisuwan Janya was taken to a military facility in Bangkok on Thursday for what the army called a “discussion to improve his understanding”, according to the Prachatai website.
The lawyer -- who made a name for himself by winning important environmental cases and currently chairs the Association to Protect the Constitution -- was released after a three hour interrogation.
Last Tuesday, Janya submitted a petition with the office of the ombudsman, asking it to conduct an ethics probe into junta-leader-cum-prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and Deputy Prime Minister Vissanou Krua-ngam.
In the file, Janya wrote that 77 of the 200 members of the newly junta-appointed National Reform Steering Assembly had been colleagues of Chan-ocha.
He added that two relatives of Krua-ngam, deputy prime minister in charge of political reform, had also been appointed to the assembly.
“The assembly is supposed to be composed of people from all walks of life,” wrote Janya.
“The behaviour of the junta leader and the deputy-prime minister shows that they lacked in ethics and principles when making the appointments to the assembly, which is against the law."
The assembly, set up at the beginning of October, must vote next year to approve or reject a new draft charter currently being written by a military-appointed committee.
On being released Thursday evening, Janya posted a message on his Facebook page to thank those who had expressed their support after his summons.
Janya rose to prominence - particularly in the field of environment protection - when he won a 2009 case against companies accused of serious pollution at an industrial estate east of Bangkok.
An administrative court ordered 76 of the companies to suspend their activities until they completed a credible environment impact assessment.
At the time, Janya chaired an environmental organization called the Stop Global Warming Association.
In the immediate aftermath of the May 22, 2014 coup which overthrew the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra, the junta summoned over 700 politicians, activists, journalists and academics for what it called "adjustment sessions".
They were generally released after a maximum detention of seven days at a military camp.
These summons ceased about one year ago, but appear to have resumed since the beginning of September, when two former MPs and an outspoken journalist were detained for a few days.
In October, a cartoonist for popular daily Thai Rath was also interrogated for several hours because of cartoons mocking Chan-ocha.
