<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d6c42da7-3aa7-355b-e84b-6d79815fe637">The Appeal Court convicted a Karen villager accused of illegal logging in northern Thailand to 1.5 years in prison. This is a result of the junta's ‘Return the Forest’ policy which has adversely effected the poor of the country.&nbsp;</span></p>

<div>A court in Bangkok on Friday sentenced the younger brother and two other relatives of the former royal consort to the Crown Prince to 11 years in jail, but since the defendants pleaded guilty, the jail term was halved.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Nattapong, Narong and Sittisak Suwadee were found guilty of making false claims about the Crown Prince to threaten a businessman into agreeing to reduce a debt. They were also found guilty of abduction, robbery, illegal possession of unauthorized weapons, and carrying weapons in a public place. </div>

<div> <div>The military court sentenced an elderly man to three years in jail for writing messages defaming the King on a toilet wall, but since the defendant pleaded guilty, the jail term was halved to one year and six months. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The military court on Friday morning found Opas C., 67, guilty of writing a lèse majesté message in a restroom of Seacon Square shopping mall in eastern Bangkok.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Due to Opas's poor health, Sauvakon C., Opas's wife, wrote a letter asking the court for mercy. </div></div>

<p>A bomb exploded inside the compound of the Bangkok Criminal Court on 7 March 2015 and nine suspects have been arrested so far.</p> <p>Today, 17 March 2015, the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) has received complaints from four of the suspects in this case including Mr. Sansern Sriounruen, Mr. Chanwit Chariyanukul, Mr. Norapat Luephon, and Mr. Wichai Yusuk.</p>

<p>The Thai police have denied allegations of torture by the Bangkok court bombing suspects, claiming that the suspects did not say anything as such. Meanwhile, human rights lawyers requested to see the medical examination reports of the suspects. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thavornsiri, spokesperson of the Royal Thai Police, on Thursday dismissed the allegations. &nbsp;</p> <p>“I already asked each of the suspects myself during the medical examination, but no one said anything,” said the police spokesman.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-18496adf-351d-7488-26e9-6ec202ae1095">The Assembly of the Poor, a Thai civil society organisation, issued a statement condemning the Thai junta’s eviction of poor communities and urging international organisations to pressure the regime to protect human rights. &nbsp;</span></p>

<div> <div>The military court on Thursday sentenced a man to five years in jail for using the name of the monarchy in a scam but since the defendant pleaded guilty, the jail term was halved to two years and six months.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Chainarin N. was found guilty under Article 112 of the Criminal Code for embezzling money through a bogus royal project. </div></div>

<div> <div>The military on Wednesday filed a lèse majesté complaint against a key witness to military killings in 2010 and a suspect in an explosives attack at a Bangkok court.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Col Wijan Jodtaeng, Director of the Law and Human Rights Department of the Internal Security Operation Command, and other staff of the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on Wednesday filed the complaint with the police against Nattatida Meewangpla under Article 112.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Col Wijan also submitted as evidence screenshots of chat logs of the suspe </div></div>

<div>The military court sentenced a man to six months in prison for not reporting to the coup-makers in 2014, but the jail term was suspended.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The military court on Thursday morning sentenced Pongsak S, aka Sam, an anti-establishment red shirt who was accused of violating the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Announcement No. </div>

<p>Four of nine suspects in a case related to explosions in Bangkok said they faced torture and ill-treatment during military detention in March. The torture methods included&nbsp;beatings and electric shocks.</p> <p>Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)&nbsp;<a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/4874">called</a>&nbsp;for an independent investigation into the torture complaints from four suspects in a case related to explosions at the Bangkok Criminal Court and Siam Square and planned explosions in other locations in Bangkok.</p>

<div>The junta-appointed parliament has passed the 2015 Gender Equality Act. The law imposes a jail term of up to six months for anyone committing gender discrimination.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The latest version of the law, announced in the Royal Gazette on 8 March, has removed controversial elements which upheld exceptions for gender discrimination in three situations where equality was not mandated. These exceptions were education, religion and the public interest.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The law will be enacted in August. </div>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-443b76d9-2ac8-d58f-a768-81bf3228206c">Somsak Jeamteerasakul, an embattled lèse majesté critic and ex-Thammasat history lecturer in self-imposed exile has submitted an appeal to the Thai authorities regarding the decision by Thammasat University to sack him.&nbsp;</span></p>