Alleged victim of sexual assault by politician withdraws from Bangkok election

A woman who is alleging former Democrat party deputy leader Prinn Panitchpakdi raped her, has announced yesterday she was withdrawing from the Bangkok city councillor election. The woman, Anna Vidhyaphum, said in a Facebook post that she wanted to show that her accusation against Prinn is not politically motivated.

Anna’s party, The Ruam Thai United party, issued a statement yesterday voicing full support for her. The party also said it supported other victims of sexual violence. Around 20 others have made similar allegations about Prinn, with some reporting Prinn to the police for alleged rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment.

Meanwhile, Prinn claims his innocence. At a press conference on Thursday, he claimed that he is “not that type of person”.

“I insist I am innocent. I deny all allegations. They are groundless. Although what happened is a personal matter, it affects the Democrats.”

Still, Prinn says he decided to resign in order to protect the Democrat Party’s reputation, and take the time to defend himself in court.

This morning, Prinn surrendered at Lumpini police station. Police released Prinn after they questioned him, claiming they had no power to hold him in custody because he turned himself in voluntarily and no arrest warrant has been issued at this stage. The police do expect a court warrant to be issued for his arrest tomorrow.

The Ruam Thai United party, however, said in their statement that it cannot let Prinn’s act go unpunished.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World