Thai man sentenced to 30 years for lese-majeste

Bangkok, June 9 (IANS) A Thai military court on Friday sentenced a man to 30 years in prison after convicting him of 10 counts of lese-majeste, a law that protects the country's royal household.

The man, identified as Wichai, was detained in the city of Chiang Mai in December 2015 for a series of posts on Facebook that were considered insulting to the Thai monarchy.

The court, which had earlier sentenced him to 60 years in prison, reduced his term to 30, after the accused confessed, Yingcheep Atchanont, a representative of iLaw, a human rights defence group that tracks royal defamation cases, told Efe news.

According to the lese-majeste law it is a criminal offence to "defame, insult or threaten" members of the royal family that is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

After the military coup in May 2014, the number of prosecutions under the draconian law has multiplied.

On many occasions, the army has sent suspects to military courts whose sentences are twice as severe as those of civil courts, according to iLaw.

The UN Human Rights Committee has expressed concern over the law and urged Thailand to respect freedom of expression.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Facebook Comments

About VDC

Doraiah Chowdary Vundavally is a Software engineer at VTech . He is the news editor of SocialNews.XYZ and Freelance writer-contributes Telugu and English Columns on Films, Politics, and Gossips. He is the primary contributor for South Cinema Section of SocialNews.XYZ. His mission is to help to develop SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards any.

Share

This website uses cookies.

%%footer%%