The Chiang Rai Military Court has for the third time denied bail to a man accused of lèse majesté for posting images of the Thai Crown Prince.
On 3 November 2016, the Military Court of the northern province of Chiang Rai granted police permission to continue to detain Sarawut (surname withheld due to privacy concerns), a 32-year-old optometrist, the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported.
Sarawut is accused of breaking Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, for allegedly posting two images of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn deemed defamatory to the Thai Monarchy.
The family of the suspect later submitted a bail request with 100,000 baht cash and a land title deed valued at 400,000 baht as surety. However, the court denied bail citing flight risk and the severity of the charges.
The court dismissed the statement from the suspect’s family that Sarawut has to take care of his sons — the older being 5 years old while the younger is only 3 months old — and that he was cooperative with police during the investigation process.
Along with the lèse majesté law, Sarawut is also accused of offences under Article 14 (3) and (5) of the 2007 Computer Crime Act, a law against the importation of illegal online content.
After the complaint was filed, the police confiscated Sarawut’s electronic devices with a search warrant on 26 August 2016 before sending them to the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).
The notorious lèse majesté law clearly states, "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, Heir-apparent or Regent shall be punished [with] imprisonment of three to fifteen years."
