The criminal court sentenced a man to one month in jail, suspended for one year, for spray-painting an anarchist symbol on the court’s name plate in Bangkok.

Ratchada Criminal Court on Wednesday afternoon sentenced Nattapon (surname withheld due to privacy concerns), accused of painting letter ‘A’, resembling the symbol for anarchism, on the name plate of the court, to a month in jail for destroying public property and violating the Public Cleanliness Act.    

The jail term was suspended for one year because Nattapon pleaded guilty as charged and he had no criminal record.

At the court, he said that the letter ‘A’ was not meant to symbolise anarchism, but was first letter of the name of a foreign music band, ‘Anti-Flag’.

Nattapon added that his action was not motivated by politics, but he only wanted to call for justice for his friend who was shot by a military officer while riding a motorcycle in northern Bangkok in early February. The military officer has been arrested, but there has been no further progress on the case.

The defendant has to remain under detention in Bangkok Remand Prison for at least one night because the court demanded 90,000 baht (about 2,660 USD) as security for bail, but the defendant could not find enough money in time.