Ayutthaya police said they would seek a court order for the first round of detention for all three of them later.
Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak and Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul were taken to Praram 9 Hospital at around 4.45am this morning after they had been questioned by Ayutthaya police at the Pracha Chuen police station in Bangkok.
Mr Parit was injured with several glass fragments on his body and Ms Panusaya was exhausted. They joined Panupong “Mike” Jadnok, another protest leader who had been released at the same time and brought to the hospital earlier after fainting while in police custody.
At a briefing today, a team of doctors at the hospital said Mr Panupong suffered several minor cuts from glass fragments. He was very weak and physicians are checking what caused his blackout.
Mr Parit, who has asthma, also had cuts on his limbs and some fragments were found on his body. Ms Panusaya was suffering from severe dehydration and chronic sleep deprivation and was on a saline drip.
All three need at least two to three days to recover, the doctors said.
Pheu Thai MP Tossaporn Serirak and Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, a former MP of the now-defunct Future Forward Party and cofounder of the Progressive Movement, accompanied them to the hospital in the same van.
Their supporters who had been waiting at the police station left after the leaders told them to return home.
Ayutthaya police visited Mr Panupong this morning, who was suffering from a lack of oxygen, at the hospital, seeking to detain him. Mr Panupong refused to be held, saying the arrest began at the Bangkok Remand Prison, not at the hospital, and he had the right to be treated there, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).
Late yesterday afternoon, the Criminal Court had granted bail to the three student activists and Patiwat Saraiyaem, another protester, after repeated appeals by their lawyers. They had been in jail for 16 days.
Mr Panupong, Mr Parit and Mr Patiwat were detained at Bangkok Remand Prison and Ms Panusaya was at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution nearby.
Mr Patiwat walked out of Bangkok Remand Prison around 8pm to cheers from supporters waiting to greet him outside.
He frantically told the waiting crowd that the other three had been taken from their cells by three men in civilian clothes while prison officials did nothing.
The men were later identified as plainclothes police officers who acted on arrest warrants for the activists’ roles during rallies in Nonthaburi, Ayutthaya and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.
However, their lawyers, citing Section 68 of the Criminal Procedures Code, argued the warrants were no longer valid since they had already acknowledged and denied the charges while at the Border Patrol Police Region 1 and the Bangkok Remand Prison.
Pol Col Ittichet Wonghomhuan, the Pracha Chuen police superintendent, said his team acted on the warrants of Nonthaburi, Ayutthaya and Ubon Ratchathani police, who had not revoked them yet.
While the lawyers were still talking to some policemen at the prison, the plainclothes officers took Mr Parit and Mr Panupong away through a secondary gate without anyone knowing, according to TLHR. Another van took Ms Panusaya from the women’s prison.
The van, with broken windows, took Mr Panupong and Mr Parit to the station at 9”30pm. Police did not allow them to get out at first since around 50 of their supporters were gathering there. Mr Parit shouted that Mr Panupong needed an ambulance immediately.
At 10pm, an ambulance took an unconscious Panupong to Kasemrad Pracha Chuen Hospital. He was later transferred to Praram 9 Hospital.
At the police station, Mr Parit said he and Mr Panupong resisted arrest because the people who took them did not wear uniforms and tried to illegally detain them. However, they were dragged by the neck to the van. Mr Panupong passed out later in the vehicle, Mr Parit claimed.
He said the supporters who were following them tried to ask the police to stop the van so Mr Panupong could get medical help but the officials refused to do so.
According to Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw), some interviews and video clips showed what happened during the trip to the police station.
The van carrying Mr Parit and Mr Panupong stopped at a red light at the Pongpet intersection, followed by a few people on motorcycles believed to be their supporters.
Mr Panupong and Mr Parit shouted to them that they had been forcibly and illegally taken. Their supporters tried in vain to talk to the officials before attempting to break a window, allegedly to help the pair.
As the van driver tried to get away, the vehicle hit at least two other motorcycles nearby. One of the motorcycles fell in front of the van but the van driver ploughed on, dragging the smaller vehicle for around 200 metres. The owner of the damaged motorcycle, who was not a protester, later filed a complaint with police.
After their temporary release yesterday, four other protesters remained in jail as of today.
At Bangkok Remand Prison, Ekkachai Hongkangwan has been imprisoned since Oct 12 on charges related to the royal motorcade, Arnon Nampha has been held since Oct 15 on sedition charges, and Somyot Prueksakasemsuk has been detained since Oct 16.
At Bang Kwang Prison, Suranart Panprasert has been held at since Oct 21 on charges in connection with a royal motorcade.