<p>While the government was humiliated at the UN’s ICCPR meeting in Geneva for serious human right violations, at home a Thai court has again refused to release a student activist who has become a posterchild of the pro-democracy movement. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>On 13 March 2017, the Provincial Court of Khon Kaen&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=3718">rejected a 700,000 baht</a>&nbsp;bail bid by Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM).</p>

<p>The Supreme Court has sentenced a comedian turned red-shirt activist and politician to two years’ imprisonment for lèse majesté.</p> <p>On 7 March 2017, at the Criminal Court on Ratchadapisek Rd., Bangkok, the Supreme Court sentenced Yotwarit Chuklom, aka. Jeng Dokjik, to two years in prison without suspending the jail term.</p> <p>The court found Yotwarit guilty of offences under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, for a speech and a gesture at a red-shirt United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) rally on 28 March 2010.</p>

<p>The police have permitted a renowned royalist intellectual accused of lèse majesté to postpone hearing the charges against him.</p> <p>On 28 February 2017, a defence lawyer representing Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned royalist and lèse majesté critic, submitted a request to police officers of Chanasongkram Police Station in Bangkok asking for a postponement a hearing about the lèse majesté charges. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>The inquiry officers permitted a postponement for the time being.</p>

<p>The Appeal Court has refused to release an anti-junta student activist accused of lèse majesté.</p> <p>On 1 March 2017, the Appeal Court Region 4&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=3582">confirmed the ruling of the Court of First Instance&nbsp;</a>not to release Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM).</p>

<p>On 23 February 2017, the Supreme Court sentenced Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a labour and democracy activist turned lèse majesté suspect, to six years in prison, ending his six year struggle against the charge. As a man of principle, Somyot was the first lèse majesté suspect in a decade to choose to fight until the end, rather than pleading guilty for a lighter jail term. Prachatai has gathered 14 facts about the man whose legal battle has sparked debate about Thailand’s controversial lèse majesté law.</p> <p></p>

<p>After almost six years in prison, Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a long-time labour activist turned lèse majesté suspect, was sentenced to six years in jail by the Supreme Court for royal defamation and another year for defaming a military general. &nbsp;</p> <p>At around 10 am on 23 February 2017, the Criminal Court on Ratchadapisek Road in Bangkok read the Supreme Court’s verdict for Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, labour activist and former editor of Voice of Taksin magazine indicted under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p>

<p dir="ltr">A provincial court has once again refused to release an anti-junta student activist accused of lèse majesté, even though several renowned Thai academics have volunteered to act as guarantors for his release.</p> <p dir="ltr">At 11:20 am on 22 February 2017, the Provincial Court of Khon Kaen denied bail valued at 700,000 baht for Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM).</p>

<div><em>&quot;That week I could visit him only once. Pai asked me if I had changed my mind about him. He said like he is a prisoner already but he said I&rsquo;m still young and still have a better future than this.&quot;</em></div><div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div>

<p>The Student Councils Assembly of Thailand has demanded that the Thai authorities release ‘Pai Dao Din’, an anti-junta activist accused of defaming King Vajiralongkorn.</p> <p>On 13 February 2017, the Students Councils Assembly of Thailand (SCAT), an umbrella organisation representing students from Thailand’s leading universities, released a statement condemning the ongoing imprisonment of Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Condemning the decision by a Thai court to put a young pro-democracy activist on trial for sharing a BBC profile of the new king on Facebook, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the authorities to stop using the lèse-majesté law both to jail critics and to deter the media from covering the monarchy.</p>

<p>Despite criticism from the UN, a Thai court has refused to release the embattled student activist Jatuphat ‘Pai Dao Din’ Boonpattararaksa after public prosecutors indicted him for lèse majesté.</p> <p>On 10 February 2017, the Provincial Court of Khon Kaen accepted Jatuphat’s case during an in camera hearing after the prosecutor formally indicted him under Article 112 of the Criminal Code — the lèse majesté law.</p> <p>The prosecutors objected to bail, citing flight risk and the severity of the charge since it is related to the Thai Monarchy.</p>

<p>A military court has held the first trial for the lèse majesté suspect who claimed to possess telepathic powers. &nbsp;</p> <p>The Military Court of Bangkok on 9 February &nbsp;2017 held<a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=3451">&nbsp;the first trial for Sao Saengmuang</a>, a suspect of offences under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p> <p>Sao was indicted by military prosecutors for submitting a complaint in March 2015 to the Criminal Division for Political Office Holders of the Supreme Court.</p>