He added, “We are setting an example about ethical conduct.”

Others might call it death by paperwork, an effort by the junta to bury the political opposition in endless legal cases, in the courts and in the military-appointed Parliament applying a flexible, through-the-looking-glass interpretation of the law.

The junta’s law is whatever it decrees. Some 269 former members of Parliament overthrown in the coup are being threatened with legal action by Mr. Vicha’s office, proceedings that seem to have shaky legal standing since the system that politicians are accused of violating — the Constitution — was nullified by the generals when they seized power.

His office also led the prosecution of Yingluck Shinawatra, the former prime minister whose party was deposed. The military’s handpicked legislature impeached her retroactively last month, banning her from politics for five years.

Civilians who defy the junta are tried in military courts with no possibility of appeal.

The military has not said when it will relinquish power. But before any return to democratic rule, the generals and their allies in the Thai elite are seeking to legally dismantle the most popular political movement in modern Thai history, a new-money political machine founded by a cellphone tycoon, Thaksin Shinawatra, who challenged the old-moneyed elites.

The prosecution of the leaders of the political movement, which has won every election since 2001, has led to deep cynicism about the long-term consequences of military rule, especially the effects on the country’s legal system. The military says it staged its coup to maintain civil peace and order.