Punishing 112 for life

Clipped from TLHR

Thai Enquirer’s Facebook page reports on the continued punishment of Ukkrit Santiprasitkul or Kong, even when they hold him as a political prisoner. For lese majeste, punishment is more of less lifelong.

The report is that the “Criminal Court has rejected a request by Ukkrit …, a Ramkhamhaeng University law student held on lèse-majesté charges, to temporarily leave prison to sit his final exams, citing ‘insufficient grounds’…”.

Kong is currently detained at Bang Kwang Central Prison on two 112 charges. He has been imprisoned since 13 February 2024, after the Court of Appeals confirmed his sentence on an Article 112 charge. He was originally sentenced in 2022., when he received a total prison time of 7 years and 6 months on several lese majeste and computer crimes charges.

Despite being just three courses short of graduating from university, “his bail applications—submitted eight times—have all been denied, even when he offered 400,000 baht as surety and cited academic obligations.” In his most recent application, “Kong asked to take his exams under official supervision, arguing that completing the remaining nine credits would fulfill his degree requirements.” He was refused.

It is known that Kong “also made formal requests to the university, backed by the student council, to arrange exams inside the prison.” Ramkhamhaeng University rejected the request, saying it could not provide special treatment for an individual student, citing fairness concerns.

The royalist judiciary and royalist university administrators work hand-in-glove to enforce the establishment’s required political solidarity.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights confirms this, observing that these cruel refusals “effectively bars Kong from accessing his constitutional right to education, despite the presumption of innocence during trial. They stressed that pretrial detention should not result in loss of educational opportunity.” But the royalists and the current regime care little for rights and futures.