<p>Prosecution witness Pol Lieutenant Boonlert Kalayanamitr told the court yesterday that prachatai.com director Chiranuch Premchaiporn had indeed committed a crime by not removing alleged lese majeste remarks posted by others on the site's bulletin board.</p>

<p>The final prosecution witness, senior police l&egrave;se majest&eacute; investigator, Lt.-General Boonlert Kullayanimit of the Royal Thai Police Crime Suppression Division, proceeded to elaborate the police chain of evidence against Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of independent online news source, Prachatai. The last witness made some remarkable disclosures in his testimony.</p>

<p><em>International Media Advocates on the Case of Prachatai Executive Director Chiranuch Premchaiporn </em><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(Note: Chiranuch&rsquo;s trial will NOT be heard on Wednesday, September 7 as expected. Trial will resume on Friday, September 9 for the last prosecution witness. It is likely the presiding judge will continue with hearings on mornings only, starting at 9:30am.)</em></p>

<p>Defamatory remarks against the Royal Family rose in number after the 2006 military coup left some people unhappy with the palace, prosecution witness Pol Maj-General Surapol Tuanthong told the court yesterday [2 Sept]. He was testifying in the computer crime case against prachatai.com online newspaper director Chiranuch Premchaiporn.</p>

<p>A new judge presiding over the hearing of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of prachatai.com, who faces criminal charges for not removing messages deemed offensive to the monarchy &quot;quickly enough&quot;, said the ruling would be based on the technicality of whether the suspect collaborated with the posters or if she just failed to remove the posts in time.</p>

<p>A capacity crowd of supporters filled the l&egrave;se majest&eacute; trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand&rsquo;s independent online news portal Prachatai, which continued into its seventh day at Bangkok&rsquo;s Criminal Court. Yesterday&rsquo;s animated senior judge, The Honourable Kampol Rungrat, was joined by a second, Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) reports.</p>

<p>Reporters Without Borders is very worried about Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the head of the news website Prachatai, whose trial in connection with comments posted on her site resumes today. Also known as Jiew, she is charged under articles 14 and 15 of the Computer Crimes Act.</p>

<p><em>Two police &ldquo;IT experts&rdquo; as Prachatai trial resumes</em></p> <p>The l&egrave;se majest&eacute; trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand&rsquo;s independent online news portal Prachatai resumed at Bangkok&rsquo;s Criminal Court this morning after a hiatus of nearly seven months. The first five days of trial were held February 7 to 11. However, Chiranuch&rsquo;s case was postponed when it became obvious the trial would take longer than the two weeks scheduled to hear testimony from 14 witnesses each for both prosecution and defence.</p>

<p>The trial of a well-respected online media editor and human rights activist, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, will resume on 1st Sept 2011 in Bangkok&rsquo;s Criminal Court. Chiranuch is accused of allowing comments deemed offensive to the monarchy to be posted on the online forum she moderates. Tomorrow&rsquo;s trial is a testimony to the dire state of freedom of expression in Thailand. ARTICLE 19 calls for all charges against Chiranuch to be dropped.&nbsp; </p>

<p>Thai court will resume the witness hearings against Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, charged with l&egrave;se majest&eacute; under the Computer Crimes Act. Chiranuch (Jiew) is a media rights advocate and Executive Director of Prachatai, an independent, online news agency.</p>

<p>An Oral Statement to the 17th Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organization in general consultative status</p>