<p>A military court has sentenced an elderly man to almost 20 years in jail for royal defamation.</p>
<p>On 9 August 2017, the Military Court of Bangkok handed a sentence of 18 years and 24 months in prison to Tara W., a 59-year-old seller of Thai traditional medicine accused of violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, after he pleaded guilty.</p>
<p>He was believed to be the owner of a tourism website, <a href="http://103.208.24.21/">okthai.com</a>, which is now blocked by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.</p>
<p>A military court has postponed sentencing an elderly lèse majesté suspect who faces up to 50 years in prison after the suspect recanted his not guilty plea and confessed.</p>
<p>At about 10 am on 26 June 2017, the Military Court of Bangkok postponed the sentencing of Tara W., a 59-year-old seller of Thai traditional medicine accused of violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, after he pleaded guilty.</p>
<p>The hearing has been postponed to 9 August 2017.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court has handed a two years and six months jail term to an elderly anti-establishment red shirt accused of defaming the monarchy by uploading lèse majesté audio clips.</p>
<p>On 9 June 2017, the Supreme Court confirmed the Appeal Court verdict, sentencing Chaleaw J., a 58-year-old tailor from the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum, to five years’ imprisonment </p>
<p>At a trial held in camera, the Military Court has handed down a five-year jail term to a man charged with lèse majesté for uploading and sharing audio clips from the so-called anti-monarchy ‘Banpodj Network’.</p>
<div><em>Thailand’s military courts have handled more than 1,400 cases involving more than 1,600 civilian defendants. The most pressing problem has been the overuse of pre-trial detention against those accused of lèse majesté or criminal possession of war weapons, which simply turned them into “forgotten prisoners.” If they decide to fight the charges, these civilians would face almost indefinite detention – both because of the seriousness of the charges against them and the Court’s own slow procedures. </em></div>
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<div><em>When Anchan was arrested last year, she was 58 years old and was about to retired after working for the Revenue Department for more than 30 years. Because she has become a lese majeste suspect, she will not get any pension and benefits.</em></div>
<p dir="ltr">The Military Court has handed down an eight-year jail term for an elderly man charged with lèse majesté for uploading and sharing audio clips from the so-called anti-monarchy Banpodj Network.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Military Court of Bangkok on Monday, 28 December 2015, during an in camera deposition hearing, sentenced Tanitsak (surname withheld due to privacy concerns), a 50-year-old photographer’s assistant in a news crew from Isan, Thailand’s Northeast, to eight years in prison under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court has granted bail to an elderly anti-establishment red shirt accused of defaming the monarchy for uploading lèse majesté audio clips.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 9 September 2015, released on bail lèse majesté suspect Chaleaw J., a 56-year-old tailor from the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum, after six days imprisonment in Bangkok Remand Prison.</p>
<p>The Appeal Court has sentenced an elderly anti-establishment red shirt man, once believed to be the mastermind of an anti-monarchy <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/category/banpodj-network">Banpodj Network</a>, to five years imprisonment during an in camera hearing. </p>
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<div>A military court on Tuesday sentenced eight defendants to 10 years in jail for lèse majesté, while two other defendants were sentenced to six years. However, since they pleaded guilty, the jail terms were halved. The 10 defendants are accused of being members of the anti-monarchy Banpodj Network, which allegedly produced podcast programmes criticizing HM the King. </div>
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<div>A total of 14 people were arrested for their alleged involvement in the Bandpodj Network. They were separated into two groups of 12 and two, each group facing different charges.
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<div>“Banpodj” is behind a political podcast programme which is very influential among red shirts. To arrest him, the Thai authorities arrested 16 others who were accused of being part of a “Banpodj Network,” an international criminal organization intent on discrediting the Thai monarchy. This report introduces you to Banpodj in a way different from the police story. </div>
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