Thai military prosecutors have charged an anti-establishment red shirt single mother with sedition and computer crime offences for posting false rumours about the junta leader.  

According Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), staff of the Judge Advocate General’s Department at 15:15 pm on Wednesday, 26 August 2015, indicted Rinda Parichabutr, aka Lin, 45, a red shirt who was arrested in early July for spreading a false rumour about Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, and his wife.

The military prosecutors charged her with offences under Articles 116 and 348 of the Criminal Code, the laws on sedition and on spreading rumours that might cause public panic, for sharing an online message through the Line chat application and Facebook that the PM and his wife sent about 10 billion baht to a secret bank account in Singapore.

In addition, Rinda was also charged with offenses under Article 14/2 of the 2007 Computer Crime Act for importing false information into the internet.

If found guilty under Article 116 alone, she could face up to seven years’ imprisonment.

After the indictment, the suspect was taken to Bangkok Remand Prison awaiting a detention order. However, at around 4 pm, the military court rejected the request to remand her in custody and she was released on condition that she must not express political opinions, join any political activity or travel overseas.

Military officers arrested Rinda without a warrant on 8 July 2015 and detained her incommunicado for a night at a military base before transferring her to the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) the next day.