<p dir="ltr">The Military Court has handed down an eight-year jail term for an elderly man charged with lèse majesté for uploading and sharing audio clips from the so-called anti-monarchy Banpodj Network.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Military Court of Bangkok on Monday, 28 December 2015, during an in camera deposition hearing, sentenced Tanitsak (surname withheld due to privacy concerns), a 50-year-old photographer’s assistant in a news crew from Isan, Thailand’s Northeast, to eight years in prison under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p>

<p>In a landmark case to set a legal standard on enforced disappearance, the Thai Supreme Court has acquitted five police officers allegedly involved in the enforced disappearance of Somchai Neelapaijit, a Muslim human rights lawyer. &nbsp;</p> <p>After 11 years of legal struggle by Somchai’s family, the Supreme Court of Thailand on Tuesday, 29 December 2015, confirmed the Appeal Court acquittal of five policemen accused of involvement in the enforced disappearance of Somchai.</p>

<p>In the first legal battle in the country between a film director and the Thai Censorship Committee, the Administrative Court confirmed a ban on an LGBTI-themed film over a controversial sex scene, saying that it could negatively affect public morale.</p> <p>The Administrative Court on Friday, 25 December 2015, confirmed an order from the Censorship Committee of the National Film and Video Board (NFVB) to ban Insects in the Backyard, an independent LGBTI-themed film, which portrays the story of a troubled family led by a single transsexual mother who struggles to raise his children.</p>

<p>The Military Court for a second time has denied bail to a factory worker accused under the lèse majesté law of defaming the King’s favourite dog.</p> <p>The Military Court of Bangkok on Friday, 25 December 2015, denied bail to Thanakorn S. with a 900,000 baht guarantee after granting police permission to detain him in custody for a second period of 12 days with the possibility of further extensions.</p>

<p>Two of the six academics charged with violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings by organising a public talk remain defiant at the risk of receiving jail terms, saying that the junta order can longer be enacted. &nbsp;</p> <p>Attachak Sattayanurak and Somchai Preechasinlapakun, history and law lecturers from Chiang Mai University, at 2 pm on Thursday, 24 December 2015, submitted a document on allegations against them to Chang Puak Police Station in Mueang District of the northern province of Chiang Mai.</p>

<p>The Civil Court has fined three anti-election demonstrators almost one million for barricading the Interior Ministry and Department of Provincial Administration (DPA) buildings in Bangkok.</p> <p>The Civil Court on Ratchadaphisek Road, Bangkok, on Wednesday, 23 December 2015, found Somsak Kosaisuk, Komsan Thongsiri, and Sawit Kaewwan, three key leaders of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) anti-election protest, guilty of barricading the Interior Ministry and DPA buildings during the PDRC protest prior to the 2014 coup d’état.</p>

<p>A rally organised by civil society groups promoting land rights and land reform has been called off after the military invited rally leaders for discussions.</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="https://tlhr2014.wordpress.com/2015/12/23/pmove-march2/">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, on Wednesday morning, 23 December 2015, Direk Kongngern, President of the Northern Development Foundation (NDF) and nine other participants in the rally organised by NDF and People’s Movement for Just Society (P-Move) were summoned for a discussion with the military.</p>

<p>Activists calling for a probe into the Rajabhakti Park scandals have submitted complaints to the UN and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) while another well-known anti-junta activist said that he will sue authorities for violating basic rights. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Sirawit Serithiwat (aka. Ja New), a well-known anti-junta student activist, and other activists from New Democracy Movement, on Wednesday afternoon, 23 December 2015, submitted a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), accusing the authorities of violating human rights.</p>

<p>The Thai police have arrested a man accused of creating a copycat Facebook profile under his friend’s name and posting lèse majesté messages on it to take revenge on his friend. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<div> <p>The Supreme Court for the first time ruled on a case against an internet intermediary, finding the Prachatai Director guilty for failing to delete lèse majesté comments on the now-defunct Prachatai web forum.&nbsp;</p> </div>

<p>Four lèse majesté suspects accused of making false claims about HRH Princess Sirindhorn for financial benefit have denied lèse majesté charges.</p> <p>According to <a href="https://tlhr2014.wordpress.com/2015/12/22/112kampangpetch_2/">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, on Monday, 21 December 2015, the Provincial Court of Kamphaeng Phet held a deposition hearing for Atsadaphon S., 45, Kittiphop S., 23, Wiset P., 30, and Noppharit, 28, (surnames withheld due to privacy concerns).</p>

<p>Thailand’s marginalised communities countrywide staged rallies to call for land rights amid tight monitoring from the authorities. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>People’s Movement for Just Society (P-Move) and Northern Development Foundation (NDF), civil society groups promoting land rights for Thailand’s landless communities, staged a rally on Tuesday morning, 22 December 2015, at the Three Kings Monument Square in the northern province of Chiang Mai.</p>