<p>The charges against Chiranuch were made by the Superintendent of Khon Kaen Police who alleged that she, as website administrator, and website users violated Sections 14 and 15 of the 2007 Computer Crimes Act and Section 112 of the Criminal Code (lèse majesté) for offensive comments made on the website on 27 April 2009.</p>
<p><strong><em>(Correction: the charges were made by Sunimit Jirasuk, a local businessman in Khon Kaen, for comments on Prachatai in April 2008 about <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/620">Chotisak Onsoong</a>.)</em></strong></p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>In Thailand, reality and its acknowledgement have a way of being supplanted by fiction and denial. </p>
<p>Take for instance the gathering of some 10,000 red shirts last Sunday at Rajprasong intersection to mark the fourth anniversary of the 2006 coup and the fourth month since the military cracked down on the movement.</p>
<p>The one thing conspicuously missing from media coverage was the angry messages emblazoned on the corrugated iron wall outside CentralWorld, which is being rebuilt after the red shirts allegedly burned it down in the aftermath of the crackdown.</p>
<p>The Ministry of Culture and the Department of Special Investigation will set up a panel to investigate <a href="http://www.sameskybooks.org/">Same Sky magazine</a> for alleged lèse majesté content. A group of royalists have urged a senate committee to take action against lèse majesté offenders on Facebook, and the DSI has posted an arrest warrant for a Facebook user. </p>
<p>The National Library of Thailand has notified the police to take legal action against Same Sky magazine because it has not been registered and its content may constitute lèse majesté. The editor insists on publishing, and thanks the National Library for helping advertise his magazine.</p>
<p>The CRES spokesperson told a press conference that certain print media have distorted information causing anxiety and rifts among the public, and presented news affronting the monarchy. The CRES will take legal action against them or close them down if necessary.</p>
<p>The Network of Volunteer Citizens to Protect the Monarchy on Facebook has met the DSI Director, and provided a video clip of Tom Dundee speaking at a red-shirt rally, which they say constitutes lèse majesté.</p>
<p>A couple of months ago, there was a rumour among members of the Prachatai webboard that one member had been arrested. No one could really confirm this, but one member certainly did disappear from the forum. This seemed to be a repeat of a pattern that has happened several times before; many others, including the first two cyber casualties, <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/taxonomy/term/305">Praya Pichai and Ton Chan</a>, have completely disappeared from cyberworld ever since, at least under those names. But Pruay Salty Head is different. He has come back, with a story.</p>
<p>Yellow-shirt leader Sondhi Limthongkul will stand trial for lèse majesté in Nov 2011.</p>
<p>On 16 Aug, the court examined the evidence in the case of Sondhi Limthongkul who has been prosecuted for lèse majesté for repeating Da Torpedo’s words which sent her to jail for 18 years. </p>
<p>Sondhi denied all charges in court.</p>
<p>The court set 1 Nov 2011as the starting date for the trial.</p>
<p>The trial of the webmaster of the Norporchor USA website has been scheduled to start in February 2011. The Appeals Court has rejected Daranee Charnchoengsilapakul’s bail request for fear that she might flee.</p>
By Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) |
<p>(SEAP/IFEX) - 2 August 2010 - It has been three years since the enactment of Thailand's controversial Computer Crime Act, a law that critics and experts say has had a troubling and detrimental impact on free expression in the country.</p>
<p>Suwicha Thakor has entered the monkhood in his hometown of Nakhon Phanom, after being released from prison where he was detained for over a year on lèse majesté charges.</p>
<p>Lèse majesté convict Bunyuen Prasertying was recently granted a royal pardon on the occasion of Coronation Day (5 May), and released from jail around the same time as some other convicts, including Suwicha Thakor.</p>
<p>Bunyuen did not look much changed from when she was in prison. Though seemingly not in very good health, and walking unsteadily as a result of an old motorcycle accident, her eyes still shone with enthusiasm.</p>