<p dir="ltr">After being imprisoned for three years and four months, a military court once again postponed a witness hearing for a poet accused of royal defamation.</p> <p>On 15 November 2017, the Military Court of Bangkok postponed the trial for Sirapop (surname withheld for privacy concerns), 53, once again as a witness failed to appear to the court.</p> <p>According to Anon Nampa, human rights lawyer representing the defendant, since he was arrested in June 2014, the court completed only one witness hearing in the case out of 6-7 plaintiff witnesses.</p>

<div> <div>A military court has given an 8 months suspended jail term to a suspect who refused to comply with a junta order. &nbsp;He also faces a lèse majesté charge</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 25 November 2016, Bangkok Military Court found Sirapop (surname withheld for privacy concerns) guilty of breaching a junta order. The court sentenced him to 1 year in jail and an 18,000 baht fine. </div></div>

<p>Despite being accused of disrespecting the military court, an embattled lèse majesté suspect has refused to bow down, saying that the court should have defended democracy against coup-makers.</p> <p>On 4 October 2016, a defence lawyer for Sirapop (surname withheld for privacy concerns), 52, resubmitted his client’s closing statement to the Military Court of Bangkok,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=2358">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">A military court has accused a lèse majesté suspect of disrespecting the court for arguing that the courts have a role in defending democracy and resisting Thailand’s coup-makers. &nbsp;</p>

<div>Rungsira, pen-named Sirapop, has fighted the lèse majesté case in the military court for over two years. His story is littled known to the media. When he attorney asked if there were another coup and he were again summoned: “Would you go?” He replied: "If there were another coup and I was again summoned, I promise you: I would not go!”</div> <p></p>

<div>Note: “Rungsila” is the pen name of Siraphop, a construction contractor who is around fifty years old. Prior to the 22 May 2014 coup, he was well-known online as a writer of political poems and articles. Shortly after the coup, his name was among those summoned to report to the Army Club but he declined to report himself. On 25 June 2014, he was arrested by soldiers in Kalasin province and then detained for 7 days under the provisions of martial law then in force. </div>

<p>The military court has again postponed the trial of a suspect charged with defying an order of the junta in 2014 due to the repeated absence of the first prosecution witness. &nbsp;</p> <p>The military court on Friday morning postponed examination of a prosecution witness in a case where Sirapop (family name withheld due to privacy concerns) was charged with defying the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Announcement No. 41/2014 for not reporting to the coup-maker in May 2014.</p>

<div>A red-shirt poet whose lèse majesté case is being tried by a military court has made the extraordinary decision to fight the case despite the dim chances of winning.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Wednesday, the military court scheduled the first witness hearing for 2 April. There are 10 witnesses in total.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>His case is being tried in camera at a military court after the court said his crimes--writing poems-- are severe since his poems touched on the revered Thai monarchy. </div>

<div>Apart from repeatedly denying bail requests from lèse majesté suspects, the military court in Bangkok on Thursday ruled to try another lèse majesté case in camera despite the presence of UN officials. </div>