A Thai radio host jailed recently was put behind bars for five years due to royal defamation, according to his lawyer Tuesday. The Thai radio host jailed is reportedly one of the first sentences passed by a military court for breaching the Lese Majeste Law since a May coup.
The case of the Thai radio host jailed is the first verdict by a military court involving alleged slander of the country's monarchy in his program.
Kathawut Boonpitak, the Thai radio host jailed for 5 years, is a 59-year-old presenter of an online radio show from overseas. In June, he was arrested after returning to Thailand, his lawyer said. The layer meanwhile, wished to remain anonymous and simply be identified as a representative of the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
Boonpitak was guilty of violating the Lese Majeste Law, which punishes people who defame, insult or threaten the monarchy, for comments he made on a program aired on his website in March, said Sasinan Thamnithinan, one of the lawyers representing the defendant.
Thailand is the worst when it comes to convicting anyone convicted of insulting the monarchs. The verdict faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
The Lese Majeste Law, which is the world's harshest anyone convicted of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison.
The junta vowed a crackdown on Lese Majeste offences after seizing gaining power on May 22, according to the AFP.
Meanwhile, as the Thai radio host was jailed, the country's military began intensifying a crackdown on criticism. It was announced that prosecution of all such cases will involving the monarchy shall be done in military courts.
According to rights groups, there has since been a rise in both charges and convictions under the law. Most cases have been handled in civilian courts rather than military ones.
Thamnithinan, lawyer of the Thai radio host jailed, and who works for the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights Center, said the court reduced Kathawut's prison term from 10 years for confessing to the offense.
"Initially the military court sentenced him to 10 years in prison but as he confessed the judge halved the sentence to five years," Thamnithinan said.
The sentence on the Thai radio host jailed was also compared to civilian courts and they reportedly provide about three to five years' imprisonment if a defendant does not plead guilty.
Meanwhile, a Bangkok Military Court official reportedly told the AFP that the Lese Majeste verdict on the Thai radio host jailed had been scheduled Tuesday. However, no further details were provided of the case.
Other sentences in the military court had been decided for the same offence, but there were no details as to how many they are.
The royal family is a highly sensitive topic in Thailand. The world's longest reigning monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 86, is reportedly revered as a demi-god by many Thais.
According to the lawyer of the Thai radio host jailed, the host, who travelled to Thailand to attend the funeral of a relative, had tried bailing out but had been denied such privilege.
Rights groups have meanwhile voiced their concern over the fate of suspects being charged under the martial law, especially as they are stripped of the right to appeal in a military court.
The Lese Majeste Law, or Section 112 in Thailand's criminal code, is designed to protect the Thai monarchy from insult. However, according to academics, it has been politicised in recent years that martial law is the king's reign soon coming to an end.
Many of those charged have reportedly been linked to the "Red Shirt" movement, with members broadly supporting former premier and fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra.
The coup is the result of Thailand's long-running political conflict, pitting a Bangkok-based middle class and royalist elite against wach other. The latter is backed by the military and judiciary, while the former is the rural and working-class voters who are loyal to Shinawatra.
Meanwhile, Kathawut, the Thai radio host jailed, was summoned by the junta in June and has been in military and police custody since that time. King Adulyadej is currently in poor health. Political battles in Thailand began in 2006 since the king had been fading from public life. The palace's perceived role in political battles has also tarnished the institution in recent years, affecting the clean record and near-universal respect the country's citizens has for the royal institution, reports the Associated Press.
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