Prachatai sued by head of military remand facility

The head of a remand facility has accused Prachatai news website of criminal defamation and violations the 2007 Computer Crime Act for reporting mistaken facts about a lèse majesté and sedition suspect arrested for posting infographics about Rajabhakti Park.

On Friday, 11 December 2015, Boonyarak Boonyatikarn, Head of the Remand Facility at the 11th Military Circle Base on, Bangkok, filed a complaint with the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) against the Prachatai website.

The officer accused Prachatai of offences under the 2007 Computer Crime Act and Criminal Defamation Law in its reporting of the detention of Thanakorn S. Nakhon Chaisi Road

Prachatai reported on Thursday, 10 December 2015, that Thanakorn, suspected of offenses under Article 112 (the lèse majesté law) Article 116 (the sedition law) and the Computer Crime Act, was detained at the Remand Facility at the 11th Military Circle Base on Tuesday night before he was transferred to detention at an unknown location.

Boonyarak said that he has never told any lawyer or media that the suspect was detained at the remand facility under his care.

Boonyarak Boonyatikarn, Head of the Remand Facility at 11th Military Circle Base on Nakhon Chaisi Road, Bangkok, filed a complaint with the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) against the Prachatai website on 11 December 2015.

After checking the facts, Prachatai discovered that there had been a miscommunication with a staff member of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) about the detention of Thanakorn.

Pawinee Chumsri, a lawyer from TLHR, told Prachatai that the head of the Remand Facility at the 11th Military Circle Base never said that Thanakorn was detained at the facility, but TLHR received information from a person believed to be a military officer in plain clothes that the suspect was detained at the 11th Military Circle Base.

The person, however, did not specify which part of the military base Thanakorn was detained in prior to his transfer.

According to Pradtanah S., the mother of the suspect, a police officer from Samut Prakan Province told her that Thanakorn was taken to the 11th Military Circle Base after his arrest.

She told Prachatai that she and her husband later on 9 December 2015 travelled to the military base on Nakhon Chaisi Road to visit her son, but an officer in plainclothes informed her that she was not permitted to do so, adding that she has to wait for at least seven days and that he son would be released if he is not guilty.

The security officers invoked their authority under Section 44 of the Interim Constitution which gives them absolute power to maintain national security to arrest Thanakorn at his house in Samut Prakan on Tuesday night, 8 December 2015, for posting comments and infographics about corruption allegations surrounding Rajabhakti Park online.

The military on Wednesday filed additional charges under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, and Article 116, the sedition law, against Thakakorn for clicking ‘like’ on ‘inappropriate’ Facebook pictures allegedly defaming the monarchy.

 

Prachatai apologises for earlier mistakes

 

See related news: Junta presses lèse majesté, sedition charges over man liking Facebook pictures

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