<div> <div>The criminal court sentenced two theatre activists to five years in prison for taking part in a political play "The Wolf Bride" deemed lèse majesté, but since the defendants pleaded guilty, the jail terms were halved to two years and six months.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The court earlier scheduled the reading of the verdict at 1.30 on Monday. After weeks-long campaigns by rights groups, inviting people to attend the verdict reading in the afternoon, the court on Monday decided to read the verdict in the morning instead. </div></div>

<div>The military prosecutor on Thursday indicted a 74-year-old man for lèse majesté, saying he insulted the King by merely asking questions about the constitutional monarchy. </div>

<div>On Monday, 23 February 2015, at 1 pm in the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok, the court will read the verdict and sentence Patiwat S.and Pornthip Munkhong. They were formally charged on 25 October 2014 with one count of violating Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code in relation to the performance of a theatre play, ‘The Wolf Bride’ (Jao Sao Ma Pa) in October 2013. On 29 December 2014, they pled guilty to the charge. </div>

<div>The military court on Tuesday granted bail to a red-shirt suspect accused of posting a forged royal statement after he had been jailed on remand for seven days.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Tuesday, the military court granted 400,000 baht bail to Krit B. Earlier last Friday, the court denied him bail, citing flight risk.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The military court’s decision on Friday was highly criticized because the court had granted bail to Nirad Yaowapa, a former editor of the ultra-royalist ASTV-Manager Online, who faced the same charge. </div>

<p dir="ltr">A state official filed lese majeste complaint against two men connected with a brother of former royal consort, for claiming about the monarchy to threaten the state authorities not to properly perform duties.</p>

<p id="E24" qowt-divtype="para" qowt-eid="E24" style="list-style-type:none;"><span id="E25" qowt-eid="E25">The military court on Friday denied bail </span><span id="E26" qowt-eid="E26">to</span> <span id="E28" qowt-eid="E28">a red-shirt suspect</span><span id="E29" qowt-eid="E29"> accused of posting </span><span id="E30" qowt-eid="E30">a </span><span id="E31" qowt-eid="E31">forged royal statement, w</span><span id="E32" qowt-eid="E32">hen</span><span id="E33" qowt-eid="E33"> the court </span><span id="E34" qowt-eid="E34">had </span><span id="E35" qowt-eid="E35">earlier granted bail </span><spa</p> </spa</p></p>

<div><span id="E30" qowt-eid="E30">Note: </span><span id="E31" qowt-eid="E31">This piece was a response to the </span><a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/4773" id="E32" qowt-divtype="qowt-field-hyperlink" qowt-eid="E32" target="_blank"><span id="E33" qowt-eid="E33">10 February release</span></a><span id="E34" qowt-eid="E34"> and dismissal of charges against </span><span id="E36" qowt-eid="E36">Jaruwan</span><span id="E38" qowt-eid="E38">, Anon, and Chat</span><span id="E39" qowt-eid="E39">, three people accused of creating a Facebook book page with </span><span id="E41" qowt-eid="E41">l </span></div>

<p><a href="http://www.khaosodenglish.com/index.php">Khaosod English:</a> &nbsp;A spokesperson for Thailand's military junta explained to a group of foreign dignitaries today that the Kingdom's lese majeste law is needed to protect the "feelings" of the Thai people.</p>

<p>Translator’s Note: The fable below was originally published in Thai on Prachatai in four parts in <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2014/10/55974">October</a>, <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2014/12/56904">December</a>, <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2015/01/57391">January</a>, and <a href="http://prachatai.org/journal/2015/02/57849">February</a>.</p>

<p>In the case of the forged royal statement, a red-shirt suspect has to stay in jail because he cannot afford bail, while the ultra-royalist yellow-shirt media web editor walks free after being granted bail by the military court. It is considered rare for a lèse majesté suspect to be granted bail by a military court.</p>

<div> <div>Three lèse majesté suspects accused of being involved in a copycat lèse majesté Facebook page were released on Tuesday morning after being detained for almost three months. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The three are Jaruwan E., 26, Anon, 22, and Chat, 20. The three were accused of using a Facebook page under the real name of Jaruwan to defame the King. </div></div>

<div> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd7d4c2b-711e-a467-afaa-b75a4d94ffaa">According to&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1423493563">Matichon Online</a>, Pol Lt Prawut Thavornsiri, spokesperson of the Royal Thai Police, told media that the police arrested Hassadin U. at Monday 8 pm at a hotel on Rama 9 road.&nbsp;</p> </div>