Prachatai has two updates on lese majeste cases.
First, following his sentencing to 11 years imprisonment for lese majeste and “lese militare,” Somyos Prueksakasemsuk applied for bail. For the thirteenth time, his application was refused:
The Appeals Court said in its dismissal that, consideration of the nature of the offences and evidence presented to the Court of First Instance showed that the case ‘was serious and affected the feelings and good morals of the public’, and also that the defendant might flee if granted a temporary release, considering the fact that the Court of First Instance had sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
This is nonsense, of course, and cynics might observe that someone has decided that Somyos must be punished again, again and again. It looks like a vicious vendetta.
We posted on the dehumanization of Somyos a day or so ago.
A second story reports that lese majeste convict Sathian Rattanawong was released on 2 February. Sathian was reportedly arrested on 19 March 2011 for selling video CDs considered “offensive to the monarchy.” On 4 July 2011, the Criminal Court sentenced him to 6 years in jail and fined him 100,000 baht. For pleading guilty, sentence was were halved.
After sentencing, he applied for a royal pardon, but his petition “did not succeed.”
His release was due in April but a couple of the usual reductions granted each year has him out a little earlier.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 