Prachatai reports that on 8 July 2011, Darunee Charnchoensilpakul, who was sentenced to 18 years in jail on lese majeste charges on 28 August 2009, has seen her conviction and 50,000 baht fine “for insulting privy councillors and generals behind the 2006 coup” upheld.
It is claimed that in her speech during a protest rally on 31 May 2007 Darunee “attacked Chair of the Privy Council Gen Prem Tinsulanonda, then-Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and leaders of the 2006 coup Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin and Gen Saprang Kalayanamit, blaming them for the coup and the damage it had caused the country.”
The fact that Darunee was correct in her analysis and that these coup planners and implementers broke several laws and overthrew the constitution in implementing an illegal coup seems not to matter.
Prachatai reports that the military junta, known as the Council for National Security, “assigned the Judge Advocate General’s Department to lodge a defamation complaint against her in June 2007.”
Darunee is being punished again and again for her refusal to plead guilty on lese majeste charges. It is, in fact, these scheming men – Prem, Sonthi, Surayud, Saprang – who should be in jail for their illegal acts that have led to such turmoil.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 