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<div>Conceding to pressure from the authorities, the former Prime Minister has warned her supporters against coming to court tomorrow when her verdict will be announced, fearing the risk of violence by a ‘third party’.</div>
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<div>On 24 August 2017, former PM Yingluck Shinawatra posted on her Facebook page that her supporters should stay at home when the verdict on the Rice Pledging Scheme case is read in order to avoid possible violence as the security forces have repeatedly warned. </div>
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<div>“I recognize the concern and kindness of the people who aw
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<p dir="ltr">The Supreme Court has sentenced four people accused of shooting grenades into People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) protesters in early 2014 to death, but reduced the penalty to life imprisonment. </p>
<p>On 22 August 2017, the Supreme Court confirmed the ruling of the lower courts in handing dealth sentence to Chatchawan Prabbamrung, Somsri Marit, Sunthorn Pipuannog, and Tweechai Wichakam, according to <a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=4959">the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights</a>. </p>
<p>The Administrative Court has sentenced an anti-corruption activist to 14 months imprisonment for contempt of court, but the jail term is suspended for three years.</p>
<p>On 21 August 2017, the Supreme Administrative Court sentenced Srisuwan Janya, Secretary-General of a political group called the Association to Protect the Thai Constitution (APTC), to 14 months in prison and a fine of 700,000 baht. </p>
<p>The Criminal Court has handed a one year suspended jail term to a junta critic accused of contempt of court.</p>
<p>On 21 August 2017, the Criminal Court sentenced Watana Muangsook, a well-known politician from the Pheu Thai Party, to one year in prison and a 500 baht fine for violating Articles 15, 30, and 31 of the Criminal Procedure Code, laws related to contempt of court. </p>
<p>He was charged with broadcasting through Facebook live from the court premises about another case.</p>
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<div>The <a href="https://www.matichon.co.th/news/631797">Royal Thai Army (RTA) has announced</a> that a soldier will be detained for 15 days for physically abusing suspected drug users on Ko Lan, Chonburi Province. </div>
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<div>The announcement came after <a href="https://www.facebook.com/queentogetherisone/videos/1040909436012224/">a video clip</a> of a soldier beating three drug suspects went viral on Facebook on 15 August. Other men in uniform watch the beating.
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<div>The junta has asked news agencies to tail cabinet members during an upcoming Prime Ministerial trip to create content for the state television channel. </div>
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<div>On 16 August 2017, the Government Public Relations Department invited news agencies to a press briefing on junta leader Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha’s upcoming visit to Nakhon Ratchasima. </div>
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<div>According to the <a href="https://www.isranews.org/isranews/58839-report01_58839.html">Isra News Agency</a>, one of the organisations who attended, government spokesperson Lt Gen Sansern Kaew
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<p>The public prosecutor has charged eight people with royal defamation for burning royal arches. </p>
<p>On 16 August 2017, at the Provincial Court of Phon District, Khon Kaen Province, the prosecutor indicted eight individuals (identities withheld due to privacy concerns) on charges of violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, criminal association, and destruction of public property, <a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=4913">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported</a>.</p>
<p>The defence lawyer of Jatuphat ‘Pai Dao Din’ Boonpattararaksa has revealed that the renowned democracy activist chose to plead guilty because he was being tried in camera, with observers and the media not allowed into the courtroom.</p>
<p>After standing firm behind bars for almost eight months, the abrupt decision of Jatuphat, a law student and key democracy activist, to <a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/7327">plead guilty</a> took many people by surprise.</p>
<p>A provincial court has handed a two and a half year jail term to a well-known democracy activist accused of lèse majesté for sharing a BBC biography of King Vajiralongkorn.</p>
<p>On 15 August 2017, the Provincial Court of Khon Kaen handed a five year sentence to Jatuphat ‘Pai Dao Din’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key democracy activist, accused of violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p>
<p>The court, however, halved the sentence to two years and six months as he pleaded guilty. Jatuphat has already spent eight months in detention.</p>
<p>The police have summoned academics and students accused of breaching the junta’s ban on political gatherings for participating in an academic forum.</p>
<p>Teeramon Buangam, a master’s student at Chiang Mai University and editor of <a href="http://www.prachatham.com/">Prachatham News</a>, told the media that he received a summons from Changphueak Police Station in Chiang Mai on 12 August 2017.</p>
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<div>World scholars including Noam Chomsky have expressed support for Netiwit after Chulalongkorn University initiated disciplinary action against the progressive student activist. </div>
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<div>On 14 August 2017, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, President of Chulalongkorn University’s student council, posted on his Facebook account an email from Noam Chomsky.
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<p>After five years of legal struggle, a court has confirmed a ban on a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’, which touches on sensitive historical topics.</p>
<p>On 11 August 2017, the Administrative Court maintained a ban on ‘Shakespeare Must Die’, a political film with references to the 6 October 1976 student massacre and the political violence during the red shirt demonstrations in 2009.</p>
<p>The leading character of the movie, called ‘Dear Leader’, is believed to be based on the controversial former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. </p>