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.

"These messages are not visible on prachatai's webboard only," Surapol added.

Chiranuch faces a maximum of 20 years in prison under the Computer Crimes Act for allegedly allowing 10 defamatory comments to be posted on the now defunct webboard, which was under her supervision.

Surapol, who was in charge of lese majeste cases in 2008, said that even though code names were used to refer to certain members of the Royal Family, the true identity of the person could still be worked out, especially since most Internet users are well informed.

After his testimony, Surapol told reporters that anti-monarchy remarks are posted on the Net "every day, even today".

"Whether it ends up as a legal case or not is another matter," he said.

When asked by a representative of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders why there had been such a proliferation of lese majeste remarks over the past few years, Surapol said that it was "a sign of the times".