Nick Nostitz :
Very sloppy reporting does not justice to this case of enormous historical and social importance.
While i still lived in Thailand i have followed this case at court very closely, and fortunately the verdiict was read while i am on my holiday in Thailand, so i had the opportunity to attend this at court.
In fact, the case was not against 24 Red Shirt leaders, but several cases against many of the UDD leaders and many of Seh Daeng's luk nong combined into one case.
To summarize it, the court reasoned that the UDD leaders cannot be made responsible for the actions of armed protesters as the prosecution failed to prove any connection between the UDD and armed militants that came from groups not under UDD authority.
Furthermore, the prosecution failed to present any evidence that proved any of the defendents were responsible for the attacks, and that such attacks are to be separate cases.
In the case of the fires at the different locations the court reasoned that first of all they took place after the UDD leaders called the protests to be finished and have surrendered to the authorities. In the case of speeches held by some UDD leaders, such as Arisaman, calling for protesters arming themselves with petrol bombs, this cannot be brought into direct relation with the arson incidents, as there was no immediate action taken after those speeches and a major time difference between those speeches and the arson incidents. And there was again no proof brought at court who was responsible for the arson cases in Bangkok.
There was a whole lot more, iincluding that the court contextualized the 2010 protests with the political situation, the Red Shirt demands for a new election within the democratic system, and with the previous PAD protests.
All defendents were acquitted.
Basically, this verdict clearly shows that the entire narrative of the Democrat Party, in particular propagated by Abhisit and Suthep, and of the military, could not be held up at a court of justice. This is significant.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/1730099/red-shirt-leaders-acquitted-of-terrorism