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Published on December 7, 2007

"The draft Article 22 was removed to restore civil and criminal accountability for security officials," Prathan Watthanawanit, a legislative committee member in charge of vetting the proposed legislation said yesterday.

The committee voted to retain Article 21, which exempts security officials from administrative litigation, he said, noting security-related disputes would be handled by the Courts of Justice, but not the Administrative Court.

The vetting was close to completion and the remaining contentious issue was about the clarification of the legal definition of security issues to fall under the purview of the bill, he said.

The vetting panel's spokesman, Somchai Sawangkan, said yesterday it had completed more than 80 per cent of its task and the finished draft would be tabled for the National Legislative Assembly's deliberation soon.

Another committee member, Pravit Wongsuwan, said the vetted version of the bill did not alter the intent of the legislation, which was meant to provide the necessary mandate to authorities to deal with security threats with the least transgression of basic rights.

The Nation