Bangkok: Thailand's military junta today dismissed the country's Senate as it intensified its post-coup crackdown and summoned 35 more people after detaining former premier Yingluck Shinawatra and top leaders of the ousted government for up to a week.
“The Senate is dismissed. Responsibility for any laws needing the approval of the parliament or Senate will instead be assumed by the leader of the (junta),” said an announcement on national television by National Peace and Order Maintaining Council (NPOMC) spokesman Colonel Winthai Suwaree.
The move came two days after Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha staged a bloodless coup. The scrapping of the 150-member Senate has abolished the last democratic institution in the country.
Earlier the military had suspended the Constitution and and dissolved the lower house of Parliament on Thursday.
Addressing the media for the first time after the elected government was deposed, the military said it will detain former premier Yingluck Shinawatra and top leaders of the ousted government as well as some protest leaders for up to a week to give them “time to think” over a political compromise.It declined to specify where the detainees were held but said they were safe.
“They will be detained for up to one week depending on how directly they were involved (in Thailand's political conflict),” army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said.Under martial law, a person can be detained without charge for no more than a week.
