<div> <div>The military court on Thursday sentenced a man to five years in jail for using the name of the monarchy in a scam but since the defendant pleaded guilty, the jail term was halved to two years and six months.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Chainarin N. was found guilty under Article 112 of the Criminal Code for embezzling money through a bogus royal project. </div></div>

<div> <div>The military on Wednesday filed a lèse majesté complaint against a key witness to military killings in 2010 and a suspect in an explosives attack at a Bangkok court.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Col Wijan Jodtaeng, Director of the Law and Human Rights Department of the Internal Security Operation Command, and other staff of the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on Wednesday filed the complaint with the police against Nattatida Meewangpla under Article 112.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Col Wijan also submitted as evidence screenshots of chat logs of the suspe </div></div>

<div>The military court sentenced a man to six months in prison for not reporting to the coup-makers in 2014, but the jail term was suspended.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The military court on Thursday morning sentenced Pongsak S, aka Sam, an anti-establishment red shirt who was accused of violating the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Announcement No. </div>

<p>(New York, March 18, 2015) – The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hrw.org/thailand" target="_blank">Thai</a>&nbsp;military’s warrantless arrest and secret detention of a witness to alleged army crimes raise grave concerns of a politically motivated prosecution, Human Rights Watch said today. Holding the suspect incommunicado for six days heightened the risk of torture and other ill treatment.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-443b76d9-2ac8-d58f-a768-81bf3228206c">Somsak Jeamteerasakul, an embattled lèse majesté critic and ex-Thammasat history lecturer in self-imposed exile has submitted an appeal to the Thai authorities regarding the decision by Thammasat University to sack him.&nbsp;</span></p>

<div>A red-shirt activist urged that his case must not be tried by a military court since the crime was committed before the coup makers’ order was issued to have lèse majesté cases tried by military courts.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Thanat Thanawatcharanon, aka Tom Dundee, a country singer-turned-red-shirt activist, who was charged with lèse majesté, has sent a letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to help transfer his case to the criminal court.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Among other reasons, he said his alleged lèse majesté speech was delivered in June 2013 whil </div>

<p>(New York, March 17, 2015) – Thai authorities should immediately drop charges against four activists who peacefully expressed opposition to military rule, Human Rights Watch said today.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d7b71f19-120d-adf9-fda6-1d887c26387c">The Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced a man who claimed to be a relative of Srirasmi Suwadee, former royal consort to the Crown Prince, to ten years in jail for lèse majesté and two other charges, but the jail term was halved because he pleaded guilty.</span></p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-676da526-07e3-52a3-d645-1bef4595a542">The criminal court on Wednesday sentenced the parents of the former royal consort for making false claims about the Crown Prince, among other charges, to five years in jail, but since the defendants pleaded guilty the jail term was halved,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://manager.co.th/Crime/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9580000028609">ASTV-Manager Online</a>&nbsp;reported.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The prosecutor has indicted the parents of the former royal consort for lèse majesté and objected to bail for the couple, citing the severity of the charges, according to Matichon Online.</p> <p>The prosecutor at Ratchada Criminal Court in Bangkok on Tuesday indicted Abhiruj Suwadee, 72, and Wantanee Suwadee, 66, the parents of Srirasmi Suwadee, former Royal Consort of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, of offences under Article 112 or the lèse majesté law, for filing a false police complaint, and for framing another, which led to the person serving a term in jail.</p>

<div> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5f757669-fdf8-604b-57b3-8555cda0a698">A programmer suspected of lèse majesté has denied the charges, saying that a copycat Facebook account falsely used his photo as profile picture and defamed the King, according to&nbsp;</span><a href="http://freedom.ilaw.or.th/en/case/645">iLaw</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5f757669-fdf8-604b-57b3-8555cda0a698">Piya J., a programmer, on Monday denied the lèse majesté allegations against him during the deposition hearing at Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court. &nbsp;</span></p> </div>

<p>Activists rallied for women’s rights and an end to military rule on International Women’s Day, pointing out that the rights of both women and men have been suspended under the junta regime.</p> <p>Anti-junta activists and others staged a rally from the 14 October Memorial to the Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue in central Bangkok on Sunday afternoon, International Women’s Day, in a ‘Wearing Sarongs and Aiming for Elections’ campaign.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7598/16568532870_3411207b60_z.jpg" /></p>