The judges, he said, had "the responsibility to prevent the country from collapsing".
"Whatever the verdict will be, it will bring damage to the country," he said. "Whatever direction it will take, it will be erroneous."
Thailand's widely-revered king, the world's longest-reigning monarch, rarely intervenes in politics.
The tone of the speech implied he was urging the judges not to compromise in an attempt to please everyone.
|
"I urge you to prepare yourself to be ready to criticise or be criticised in the capacity of learned men to prevent the country from falling into a crisis"
King Bhumibol Adulyadej |
"In my mind, I have a judgement but I cannot say," he said, without elaborating.
"I urge you to prepare yourself to be ready to criticise or be criticised in the capacity of learned men to prevent the country from falling into a crisis," he said.
"If you don't do anything, the country will fall."
The king's comments hinted at possible trouble from unhappy supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister ousted in a military coup last September.
Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party and its rival, the Democrat Party, are accused of violating election laws in an inconclusive general election last year that was later annulled by the courts.
Dissolution
The parties face dissolution and their top leadership, including Thaksin, who is living in exile in London, could be banned from politics for five years.