<p>At a trial held in camera, the Military Court has handed down a five-year jail term to a man charged with lèse majesté for uploading and sharing audio clips from the so-called anti-monarchy ‘Banpodj Network’.</p>

<p>A prominent legal officer of the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has accused leaders of the anti-establishment red shirts of violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings by opening a now-banned referendum watch centre.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Academics and human rights advocates have demanded the authorities to amend a controversial act barring people to freely criticise the junta-sponsored draft constitution, saying that opinions from all sides are crucial for the draft charter referendum.</p>

<div>Amnesty International has today issued a worldwide <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=ASA+39%2F4292%2F2016+">Urgent Action</a> appeal for Somchai Homla-or, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, and Anchana Heemmina, who have been charged by the Thai military with criminal defamation and violations of the Computer Crimes Act.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 21 June 2016, Amnesty International headquarters in London issued an appeal to its members worldwide to write to the Thai authorities calling for them to immediately and unconditionally drop charges against Somchai Homla-or, Pornpen Khongka </div>

<div> <div>Key red-shirt leaders have submitted a petition to the UN after the junta shut down their referendum monitoring centres in various provinces across the country, adding that the red shirts will invite EU delegates to participate in observing the referendum. </div></div>

<p>Police have summoned at least ten people in the central province of Ratchaburi for allegedly violating the junta’s ban on political assemblies after they gathered for a meal at the red shirts’ referendum watch centre.</p> <p>Police from Ban Pong District Police Station in Ratchaburi Province on Monday, 20 June 2016, issued warrants summoning Boribun Kiangwarangkun and at least 10 others in the district to report to the police station at 10:30 am on 26 June 2016.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Despite the risk of several years in jail, a northern ethnic minority man with mental illness charged under the lèse majesté law has pleaded innocent and vowed to fight the case in the Military Court.</p> <p>The Military Court on Monday, 20 June 2016, held a deposition hearing for Sao (surname withheld due to privacy concerns), suspected of offences under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, who claims to possess telepathic powers.</p> <p>Sao pleaded innocent and vowed the fight the case.</p>

<p>The Office of Auditor-General said he wanted to give it another try in the effort to hold the authorities accountable for wasting millions of baht&nbsp;on bogus bomb detectors sold by a British conman.&nbsp;</p> <p>Five years since it came to light that more than one&nbsp;billion baht was spent on fake devices, a renewed call to hold someone accountable has come days after a British court&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36540816">seized assets</a>&nbsp;belonging to the Briton behind the international scam.</p>

<p>A network of vocational school alumni and other royalists urge people to protect the monarchy, pressing the government to prosecute people who insulted it.</p> <p>At 12 noon on Sunday, 19 June 2016, a network of alumni from 24 vocational schools and many other royalists gathered at the Royal Plaza in central Bangkok to pay respect to the equestrian statue of Rama V and to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the coronation of Rama IX, the current King,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/180478">Matichon Online&nbsp;</a>reported.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, has retracted his earlier statement allowing the anti-establishment red shirts’ referendum watch centres, and declared that opening such centres is prohibited.</p>

<p>A key leader of the anti-establishment red shirts has reported that the military has ordered the closure of red-shirt referendum watch centres in many provinces. Meanwhile, the red shirts have invited the UN to monitor the draft charter referendum.</p>

<p>After five years in prison, Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a long-time labour activist turned lèse-majesté suspect, has urged the authorities to improve prison conditions, saying prisoners’ rights deteriorated greatly after the 2014 coup d’état.</p> <p>Suwanna Tanlek, a pro-democracy activist, on Thursday morning, 16 June 2016, submitted a petition to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The petition was written by Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, former editor of the now-defunct Voice of Taksin magazine, charged with offences under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p>