"TRT was found guilty of allowing its former leader, ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, to abuse Thailand's April 2006 election as a "tool for monopolizing power" -- specifically for instigating the hiring and paying of smaller political parties to participate in the election. TRT now will be disbanded, and all of its present and former executives will be banned from domestic politics for five years"

http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=289461

 "The party used the parliamentary election as "a means to achieve totalitarian power," Judge Vichai Chuenchompoonuj said. "It goes to show that the ... defendant does not believe in the democratic system." Associated Press

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/30/thailand.security.ap/index

The above two statements are excerpts from international newswires covering the report of the rulings made by the Thai Constitutional Court on 30 May 2007 (one day before the Vesakha Puja Day), which have resulted in Thai Rak Thai Party being disbanded and its executive members banned from politics for five years including the former PM Thaksin Shinawatra who had been ousted by the military coup in September 2006.

These headlines should be read together with a quote in a recent article in Review Asia   which goes;

"During his five years as premier, Thaksin had grown too big for his fine Italian shoes for the establishment's liking. Even the king's speeches chastised Thaksin, whose wealth - second only to that of the monarchy - bought immense power and sway. He touched the masses through simple, though dubious, policies putting money in their pockets and health care in their hands. "It's a clash of elites within the Thai ruling class. Thaksin and the palace were
competing for the same things politically and economically, particularly the hearts and minds of the masses," said Kevin Hewison, professor of Asian studies at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill."

("The King and the game of generals", David Fullbrook, http://www.review-asia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=v)

Meanwhile, REUTERS has this to say;

"The Thai Rak Thai's crimes are very dangerous to democracy," Judge Krairerk Kasemsant said as Thai Rak Thai officials, including several former Thaksin cabinet colleagues, sat stone-faced as the verdict was read out."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/thai-judges-ban-exiled-pms-dangerous-party/2007/05/31/1180205376993

In the above statement, if the term "democracy" is replaced by "the institution" that had been threatened by Thaksin's populism, the meaning should still be the same. That is "Thai Democracy", alias "Constitutional Monarchy".
The outcries and criticisms were deservedly made by the acting Thai Rak Thai (TRT) leader, Mr. Chaturon Chaisaeng;

"The verdict was based on the thought that anyone who seeks the power is right, even if the power came from the gun... we (are) under the dictator's rule."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=119114

But maybe, this former communist forgot what the father of communism had to say even years ago;

"Every Communist must grasp the truth, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

Mao Tse-Tung, "Problems of War and Strategy" (November 6, 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 224 (http://art-bin.com/art/omao5)