Tribunal 'Can Ask Thaksin To Testify'

The Constitution Tribunal should be left to decide if deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra should testify in person in the party dissolution trial, said Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont.

However, to do so the former Thai Rak Thai party leader would have to make a return to Thailand from his exile overseas.

The Council for National Security (CNS), which engineered the Sept 19 coup that toppled Mr Thaksin, said whether Mr Thaksin can set foot in Thailand for the trial is a matter of national security.

Thai Rak Thai has named Mr Thaksin as a key witness, together with former deputy secretary-general Pongsak Raktapongpaisal and former deputy leader Gen Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhya.

The party's lawyer, Somsak Toraksa, said Mr Thaksin was named as its first witness and the tribunal will decide itself how it will hear his testimony.

Gen Surayud said the tribunal can decide itself how best to handle the trial. The government would not object if the tribunal decides to permit Mr Thaksin to appear in court.

However, Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtas said the government and the CNS will have the final say on whether Mr Thaksin's re-entry is permissible. ''We can't let him in if his return leads to chaos,'' he said.

CNS secretary-general Winai Phatthiyakul said there were many other ways Mr Thaksin could testify without the need to come back to Thailand. One way would be to testify by teleconference.

The Thai Rak Thai, the Democrats and Pattana Chart Thai submitted their lists of witnesses to the tribunal on Tuesday, said Paiboon Warahapaithoon, secretary-general of the Office of the Constitution Court. Two other parties facing poll fraud charges, Phaendin Thai and Prachathipatai Kao Na, had not yet handed in their lists, he added.

Thai Rak Thai named 77 witnesses and listed 99 documents as evidence.

The Democrats have named 40 witnesses and listed 215 documents as evidence. They also asked the court to consider 73 additional documents and items as evidence. Their key witnesses are the former election commissioners in Songkhla province, said Democrat deputy spokesman Thepthai Senapong and lawyer Thosapol Pengsom.>