<p>After a military court in Thailand sentenced a 68-year-old musician to a second 18 months prison term for writing messages defaming the Thai monarchy on restroom walls, Thais and Indonesians have started a Facebook campaign to free him.</p>
By Kongpob Areerat |
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<p>In a deposition hearing held behind closed doors, a military court has sent an elderly man to three years in jail for writing messages defaming the monarchy in a shopping mall restroom.</p>
<p>Bangkok Military Court, on Friday morning, 16 October 2015, sentenced Opas C., a 68-year-old musician, to three years’ imprisonment for offences under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p>
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<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. </div>
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<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>
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<div>Due to Opas's poor health, Sauvakon C., Opas's wife, wrote a letter asking the court for mercy.
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<div>For the fourth time the military court refused to grant bail to a man accused of writing graffiti mainly criticizing the junta and making reference to the king in the restrooms of a shopping mall, despite the suspect’s severe health conditions.</div>
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<div>The military court on Monday for the fourth time declined a 2.5 million baht bail request of Opas C., a 67-year-old man charged with writing seditious messages which expressed disapproval of the junta and the Democrat Party and contained a physical description of the king. </div>
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<div>The military court on Wednesday refused to grant bail for Opas C., a 67-year-old man charged with lèse majesté for writing graffiti defaming the revered Thai monarchy in restrooms of a shopping mall, despite the suspect’s poor health. </div>
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<p>The Military Court rejected the bail request of a man who wrote messages mainly criticizing the junta and allegedly making reference to the king in a shopping mall’s restrooms.</p>
<p>On Monday, the Military Court refused to grant 2.5 million baht bail to Opas C., a 67 year-old man charged with lèse majesté after writing messages criticizing the junta and the Democrat Party and allegedly making reference to HM the King. The Court reasoned that the charges are serious and they could not grant bail because of the flight risk. </p>
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<div>The military arrested and filed a lèse majesté charge against a 67-year-old man for writing messages in a shopping mall’s restrooms. The messages mainly criticized the junta and Article 112, or the lèse majesté law, and allegedly made reference to the King. He is likely to be tried in a military court </div>
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<div>The messages mainly criticized the junta leader Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and the Democrat government which ruled the country from 2011 to 2013. They condemned the two governments for abusing Article 112.
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Please read the updated report <a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/4415">here</a></em></p>
<p dir="ltr">The military arrested and filed a lese majeste charge against a 67-year-old man for writing messages deemed defaming the monarchy in a shopping mall’s restrooms.</p>
<p>Opas C., was captured by the mall’s employee on Wednesday and was later arrested by the military.</p>
<p>On Friday, the military brought him to the crime suppression unit and filed a charge under Article 112, or the lese majeste law, against him. He confessed that he wrote the message.</p>