By Prachatai |
<p>Anon Nampa, Ekkachai Hongkangwan, Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, and Suranat Paenprasoet, who have been imprisoned for the past 20 days on charges relating to recent pro-democracy protests, have been released after a court denied a police request for their continued temporary detention.</p>
By Prachatai |
<p>Six people who participated in the demonstration in front of the Cambodian Embassy last Monday (8 June) to call for the authorities to address the disappearance of activist in exile <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/8561">Wanchalearm Satsaksit</a> have been summoned by the police on Emergency Decree charges, said <a href="https://www.tlhr2014.com/?p=18477&fbclid=IwAR1y3R-g4OcSqZjiET8QYgqmSsp1fvTljo5XtvhuqVSDzoew_ixam0y-zQM">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>.</p>
By Metta Wongwat |
<p>The 57-year-old l?se majest? convict recalled his life in jail with a smile and a laugh, even when he talked about one of his most traumatic memories -- his suicide attempt. In the early years of his imprisonment, he was overwhelmed, not by grief or despair, but anger -- the anger at the fact that his bail requests were repeatedly rejected.</p>
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<div>After the seven years of imprisonment, the magazine-editor-turned-majest? convict has been released and vowed to continue his fight for democracy in Thailand.</div>
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<div>On 30 April 2018, Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, a royal defamation convict, was released from the Bangkok Remand Prison.
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By UN Human Rights - Asia |
<div><em>This statement is originally published by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/UNHumanRightsAsia/photos/a.657330534369993.1073741828.654755261294187/926163867486657/?type=3&theater">UN Human Rights - Asia</a> Facebook page</em></div>
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<div>We repeat our call for the immediate release of prominent Thai labour activist and magazine editor Mr. Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, who is serving a jail sentence for violating the lese-majeste law.
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<div>Coup makers, since 1976 coup d’etat, have regularly cited a surge of lese majeste as a prerequisite for overthrowing an elected government. The 2006 coup, when lese majeste was cited as one of the major reasons, marked a surge of the lese majeste cases. The atrocity in April-May 2010, where almost 100 of people were killed during the military crackdown on anti-establishment red-shirt protesters, also contributed to a dramatic rise of lese majeste cases, especially the offences committed online.
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<p>Korean trade unionists have taken turns in staging a ‘one-person picket’ in front of the Thai Embassy in Seoul to urge the Thai government to release Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, arrested for lèse majesté and detained without bail since late April.</p>
By Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA) and Union of Civil Liberties (UCL) |
<p>Invoking the Emergency Decree on Government Administration in States of Emergency B.E. 2548 (2005), the government has been holding Mr. Somyot Pruksakasemsuk in custody at the Royal Thai Army Cavalry Center, Saraburi (Adisorn Army Camp) since 24 May 2010. After over two weeks, it seems he will still be suject to further detention until the 30-day-limit is reached. The detention has been made without a charge pressed against him. Meanhwile, the Public Relations Division, the Royal Thai Police, has revealed names of a number of suspects being held in custody as per the Emergency Decree.</p>
<p>Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, a veteran labour activist and editor of Voice of Taksin magazine, has written to the National Human Rights Commission, calling on the body to look into his case. He and Chulalongkorn history lecturer Dr Suthachai Yimprasert reported to the CRES on 21 May, and were sent to be held in custody at a military camp in Saraburi. They were denied the right to see lawyers. Suthachai was released on 1 May, but Somyot has still remained in detention. Several labour groups in Thailand and other countries have been campaigning to call for his release.</p>