<p>For the first time since the 2014 coup d’état, military prosecutors have dismissed lèse majesté charges against three suspects accused of defaming the Thai monarchy on Facebook.</p>
<p>Sasinan Thamnitinan, a lawyer from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), told Prachatai on Tuesday, 2 February 2016, that military staff of the Judge Advocate General’s Office had decided not indict Jaruwan E., 26, Anon, 22, and Chat, 20, accused of using a Facebook page under the name of Jaruwan to defame the King.</p>
By Sarayut Tangprasert |
<div><span id="E30" qowt-eid="E30">Note: </span><span id="E31" qowt-eid="E31">This piece was a response to the </span><a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/4773" id="E32" qowt-divtype="qowt-field-hyperlink" qowt-eid="E32" target="_blank"><span id="E33" qowt-eid="E33">10 February release</span></a><span id="E34" qowt-eid="E34"> and dismissal of charges against </span><span id="E36" qowt-eid="E36">Jaruwan</span><span id="E38" qowt-eid="E38">, Anon, and Chat</span><span id="E39" qowt-eid="E39">, three people accused of creating a Facebook book page with </span><span id="E41" qowt-eid="E41">l
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<div>Three lèse majesté suspects accused of being involved in a copycat lèse majesté Facebook page were released on Tuesday morning after being detained for almost three months. </div>
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<div>The three are Jaruwan E., 26, Anon, 22, and Chat, 20. The three were accused of using a Facebook page under the real name of Jaruwan to defame the King.
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<div>After a woman was arrested and charged with lèse majesté and offences under the Computer Crime Act for a Facebook post defaming the King, suspected to be a ploy to cause the woman trouble, two more people face the same charges. </div>
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<div>The military court on Friday approved the second custody request to detain the three suspects for another 12 days in detention. </div>
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<div>Jaruwan E., 26, Anon, 22, and Chat, 20 were accused of defaming the King on a public Facebook page with the name Jaruwan E. (full name and surname in Thai).
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<div>The court on Tuesday approved a police custody petition to detain Jaruwan E., 26, for 12 days, despite objections from the defendant. </div>
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<div>She did not submit any bail request since she is destitute and has no lawyer representing her. </div>
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<div>After the ruling, she was taken to the Central Women Correctional Institution, Bangkok.</div>
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<div>On Sunday night, she was arrested by a combined military and police force and was detained at a military camp for a night for interrogation.
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<div>The woman who was accused of posting lèse majesté material on her Facebook page told police that she did not have control over the page and that the page was a ploy by a disappointed admirer to cause her trouble.</div>
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<div>On Saturday, Lt Col Burin Thongprapai, a staff member of the military Judge Advocate General’s Department, accused Jaruwan E. of defaming the King on her Facebook account and submitted three pieces of content posted under the public Facebook page with the name Jaruwan E. (full name and surname in Thai).
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