Former red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan has been sentenced to five years in prison for exposing classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs documents during a TV broadcast in 2009.  He was later granted provisional bail.

Thai Rath Online reported on Tuesday (6 August) that former red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan was found guilty of a national security offence for disclosing classified government documents during a TV broadcast in 2009.

According to the indictment, Jatuporn Prompan, then an opposition party MP, exposed the documents without permission. The documents, labeled as ‘highly classified’, detailed approaches for conducting international relations between Thailand and Cambodia.

Jatuporn defended himself, claiming that he did not intend to commit the offence as charged. He argued that content in the documents claimed that the United Front Democracy Against Dictatorship, also known as the Red Shirt Movement, a group allied with the Pheu Thai Party, aimed to topple the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration. As the allegation affected his reputation, he said he revealed the material in order to express disagreement and prove that the content was unlawful

The court ruled that disclosing the documents could have led to misunderstandings, undermining relations between the two countries. A witness testified that after the documents were leaked, diplomatic ties between Thailand and Cambodia were indeed downgraded and their respective diplomats recalled.

The court asserted that the former red-shirt leader was aware that the documents were highly classified and must have realised that their public dissemination could potentially affect Thailand’s diplomatic relations and national security.

In consequence, the court ruled that Jatuporn was guilty of attempting to procure secrets for others under Section 124 of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to five years in prison without parole, although he was later allowed bail with 250,000 baht as security.