<div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <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. </div></div>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Anti-coup red-shirt activist Sombat Boonngarm-anong has said on Twitter that he wishes to help the junta tackle drug problems, that reds and yellows are united behind bars and that he befriended the anti-red-shirt "popcorn gunman".&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Thursday, Sombat tweeted on twitter.com/nuling a series on his experience in prison and a series. </div>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div>Sombat Boonngamanong, a prominent red-shirt figure, on Friday morning said he wants to be part of the reconciliation process, asking his followers to be more subtle when showing their opposition to the junta.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>About a hundred people visited the red-shirt leader at the Bangkok Remand Prison at 11 am on Friday. </div></div>

<div><span>The Thai Appeal Court on Thursday upheld the verdict of the Court of First Instance, sentencing Yotwarit Chuklom aka Jeng Dokjik, a comedian turned red-shirt activist and politician to two years in jail for lèse majesté, without suspended jail term.&nbsp;</span></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The court found Yotwarit guilty of lèse majesté for a speech and a gesture, at a red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) rally on 28 March 2010.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The 2010 red-shirt demonstration was to pressure the then Prime Minister </div>