Jeff Savage says he is being blamed for crimes of others and claims mother is distressed by his arrest

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

A Briton facing jail, or even the possibility of a death sentence, for his alleged part in redshirt rioting in Bangkok last week, broke down in tears in court today, saying his incarceration is distressing his elderly mother.

Jeff Savage is being detained under Thailand's emergency decree on allegations he incited, or participated in, violence and arson in the chaotic final hours of the anti-government protest, as troops moved in on demonstrators. Fifteen people were killed on the final day of the two-month protest in the middle of Bangkok.

Led into court barefoot, Savage was manacled in leg-irons, and wearing prison-issue orange shirt and shorts. He struggled with guards and insisted he was being blamed for the crimes of others.

"We're being scapegoated. Where's all the other people who were in the protest? … We're being made scapegoats. We're political prisoners."

But facing a judge for the first time since being arrested at the weekend, he broke down sobbing. "This is hurting my mother, she's 80 years old. Can't anybody help me?"

The British embassy is providing Savage, of Tonbridge, Kent, with consular assistance. The 48-year-old has not yet been charged, but Pathumwan municipal court in central Bangkok today heard that police investigations were continuing into his role with the redshirts.

At this stage he is expected to be charged with violating the emergency decree, which carries a two-year jail sentence, but the Guardian has been told authorities are looking to press further, more serious, charges.

Three more witnesses to Savage's behaviour in the final hours of the redshirts' protest will be interviewed in coming days, the court heard.

Video footage circulating on YouTube shows Savage in the days before the protest was ended apparently urging protestors to set fire to Central World shopping centre, the biggest mall in Thailand.

"We're gonna smash the fucking Central [World] Plaza … we're gonna loot everything, gold, watches, everything, and then we're gonna burn it to the ground," Savage says in the video.

Central World was later razed by redshirt protesters fleeing government troops, and a government spokesman has said a "white westerner was involved in the arson attack", seen at the building as the fire took hold.

Savage has confessed to being at the state-owned TV station Channel 3 building when it was torched on the same afternoon but says he did not help set it alight. He says he was not near Central World.

The head of Thailand's Department of Special Investigations – the equivalent to MI5 – has warned that those found guilty of arson could face the death penalty.

The DSI declined to comment on Savage's case specifically, but directed the Guardian to comments made earlier this week by the chief investigator.

"There are groups of people who are burning state offices and public places," Tharit Pengdit said. "The DSI would like to warn these people that they could face a death sentence."

Thailand's prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva singled out Savage as long-term member of the anti-government redshirts, and said authorities would continue their investigations into his involvement.

"In the case of the Briton, he's involved with the [redshirt] movement in Pattaya. In-depth investigations will be carried out to find out whether he had any other role."

Savage appeared in court alongside an Australian man Conor Purcell, who berated the judge, saying that the court had no authority to try him.

"Nobody in this country has authority over me. I'm not under Thai law. I'm only obeying international law. I'm head of the red gang," he yelled at the court, brushing off efforts by embassy officials to calm him down.

Purcell, who also claimed to have been beaten in prison, is facing similar charges to Savage. He is accused of inciting violence through a series of incendiary speeches made on the redshirts' main protest stage.

The redshirt movement opposes the Abhisit government, alleging that it is illegitimate and a puppet for the vested interests of Bangkok's military and wealthy elite. Two months of protests came to a brutal end last week, when Abhisit ordered troops to move on demonstrators. Fifteen people were killed in the crackdown, bringing to 88 the number of people killed over the course of the protest.

Both Savage and Purcell had their detentions in Bangkok remand prison extended under the emergency decree for another week. They will reappear in court on 4 June.

Led from the court, Savage was again defiant: "They won't gag us. This is a political case … they're charging me with a criminal case."