<p>On 23 Sept, Amphon Tangnoppakul, 61, was brought to the Criminal Court for the first hearing of his case.&nbsp; He is charged with having sent messages offensive to the monarchy to former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva&rsquo;s personal secretary through his mobile phone in May last year.</p>

<p><em>&ldquo;Prachatai exists to promote human rights&rdquo;</em></p> <p>The judge presiding over the trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand&rsquo;s independent online news portal, Prachatai, arrived late to court today [21 Sept]. This gave regular observers, local and international activists, NGOs, media representatives and diplomatic staff great pause for concern.</p>

<p>Thai webmaster Chiranuch Premchaiporn, facing criminal charges as an intermediary under the Computer Crime Act (CCA), on Wednesday told a court that she had implemented various precautionary measures in trying to prevent unlawful content on her Prachatai web boards.</p>

<p>Freedom House condemns the trial of online media editor and human rights defender Prachatai executive director, Chiranuch (Jiew) Premchaiporn, who is accused of allowing comments deemed critical of the monarchy to be posted on the online forum that she moderates. Freedom House urges the Thai government to drop all charges against her and to immediately amend the country&rsquo;s 2007 Computer Crimes Act (CCA), so that it conforms to international human rights standards.</p>

<p>A prosecution witness at Chiranuch Premchaiporn&rsquo;s trial on l&egrave;se-majest&eacute; charges revealed at the latest hearing on 9 September that it was a member of the royal family who alerted the police to the presence of messages criticising the monarchy on her website, Prachatai.</p>

<p>Prosecution witness Pol Lieutenant Boonlert Kalayanamitr told the court yesterday that prachatai.com director Chiranuch Premchaiporn had indeed committed a crime by not removing alleged lese majeste remarks posted by others on the site's bulletin board.</p>

<p>The final prosecution witness, senior police l&egrave;se majest&eacute; investigator, Lt.-General Boonlert Kullayanimit of the Royal Thai Police Crime Suppression Division, proceeded to elaborate the police chain of evidence against Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of independent online news source, Prachatai. The last witness made some remarkable disclosures in his testimony.</p>

<p><em>International Media Advocates on the Case of Prachatai Executive Director Chiranuch Premchaiporn </em><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>Yesterday, Thailand&rsquo;s Criminal Court would deny Joe Gordon bail for an eighth consecutive time. In its decision, the Court would cite a number of reasons for the American&rsquo;s ongoing incarceration, namely, the seriousness of the alleged offence. &ldquo;The witness had not yet testified&hellip; and the penalty, (if convicted), is high,&rdquo; wrote the Court.</p>

<p><em>(Note: Chiranuch&rsquo;s trial will NOT be heard on Wednesday, September 7 as expected. Trial will resume on Friday, September 9 for the last prosecution witness. It is likely the presiding judge will continue with hearings on mornings only, starting at 9:30am.)</em></p>

<p>A new judge presiding over the hearing of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of prachatai.com, who faces criminal charges for not removing messages deemed offensive to the monarchy &quot;quickly enough&quot;, said the ruling would be based on the technicality of whether the suspect collaborated with the posters or if she just failed to remove the posts in time.</p>

<p>A capacity crowd of supporters filled the l&egrave;se majest&eacute; trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand&rsquo;s independent online news portal Prachatai, which continued into its seventh day at Bangkok&rsquo;s Criminal Court. Yesterday&rsquo;s animated senior judge, The Honourable Kampol Rungrat, was joined by a second, Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) reports.</p>