The Appeal Court on Friday affirmed the decision of the Court of First Instance to acquit the man who was accused by his own brother of defaming the King.
Yutthaphum (last name withheld due to privacy concerns), 35, was accused in 2009 of making inappropriate remarks or curses in the presence of his brother while watching the news on television showing HM the King in a wheelchair and buying and writing inappropriate words in parentheses on a CD on which was written ‘Stop offending HM the King’. His brother took the CD to the police as evidence.
The court of appeal ruled that the plaintiff’s evidence and witnesses are suspicious. Therefore, the court dismissed the case due to the benefit of the doubt.
The Court of First Instance on 13 September 2013 ruled to acquit Yutthaphum due to the weakness of the evidence. The court reasoned that the only prosecution witness is Yutthaphum’s brother who was known to be in dispute with the defendant.
Yutthaphum was jailed for a year after the prosecutor indicted him. He was repeatedly denied bail by the Court of First Instance, citing the severity of the alleged offence concerning national security and flight risk.
Yutthaphum, 35, is from Sisaket Province in the northeast and works as employee. He was accused of committing lèse majesté offences in 2009 by his older brother who lodged a police complaint against him a year later.
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