Arrest warrant issued for Thai "red-shirt" leader, opposition party MP

Thai Criminal Court on Thursday morning issued an arrest warrant for the core "red-shirt" leader and the opposition party MP Jatuporn Prompan for failing to testify in a defamation case filed by the PM.

Jatuporn was supposed to appear before the court this morning to give his testimony, but he did not show up.

The key "red-shirt" leader assigned his lawyer to ask the court to postpone the hearing by giving the reason that his petition to the Supreme Court to replace the Criminal Court judges of the defamation case is still pending.

Jatuporn claimed the judges were close to the prime minister.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has charged Jatuporn for defaming him by publicly accusing him of ordering soldiers to kill people during the "red-shirt" protest in April last year.

Source: Xinhua