A man accused of lèse majesté by his own brother has been denied bail by the court for the second time since he was detained pending trial last month.

On 24 Oct, the Criminal Court dismissed a bail request by Yutthaphum (family name withheld), whose lawyer had applied for bail with a guarantee of 500,000 baht in cash.

The court insisted on its previous decision not to grant him bail, citing the severity of the alleged offences concerning national security and flight risk.

Yutthaphum, 35, is from Sri Sa Ket province in the northeast and works as employee. He was accused of committing lèse majesté offences in 2009 by his older brother who lodged a police complaint against him a year later.

In late August 2009, he allegedly made inappropriate remarks or curses in the presence of his brother while watching the news on television showing His Majesty the King in a wheelchair.  About 5 days later, he brought a CD on which was written the lines ‘Stop offending HM the King’ and ‘Newin asks Thaksin’, and wrote inappropriate words in parenthesis after the first line.  His brother brought the CD to the police as evidence.     

Yutthaphum told the court in his bail request that he and his brother had had quarrels and disputes over their family business.

He turned himself in to police on 19 Nov 2010 and denied all charges. He had been free during the police investigation until he was indicted on 19 Sept this year, since when he has been detained at Bangkok Remand Prison.

The first hearing is scheduled to take place on 12 Nov at 9am at the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Rd.

Source: http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2012/10/43316