Charter court sets new date for closing statements on Paetongtarn-Hun Sen call case

The Constitutional Court has decided to bring forward the date for suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and a group of 36 senators to submit their closing statements in the Paetongtarn-Hun Sen telephone call case, from August 27th to August 25th.

The date for the reading of the verdict remains August 29th at 9.30am.

Nakharin Mektrairat, president of the court, said that the change in date is intended to give the nine judges more time write their opinions.

The hearing today, during which Paetongtarn and her witness, Chatchai Bangchuad, secretary-general of the National Security Council, testified, lasted about two and a half hours.

The court questioned Chatchai for about an hour, followed by a second questioning of Paetongtarn, which took approximately one and a half hours.

After the hearing, Nakharin warned all present in the courtroom not to disseminate statements made by the two parties in the case or to distort the facts presented during the hearing in a way which may lead to public misunderstanding.

He said that the court has already recorded all the courtroom proceedings, both verbal and visual.

The court case was initiated by 36 senators against Paetongtarn over the contents of her telephone conversation with Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, as border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia escalated into open warfare late last month.

The senators accuse her of gross ethical misconduct and dishonesty.