On 22 December 2016, the Khonkean Provincial Court was ordered to revoke Jatupat’s bail after the police sought revocation of his bail on the grounds that he was still active on Facebook and showed disrespectful behaviour by mocking state authorities. Jatupat has been detained in prison since 22 December 2016, requesting bail at least 10 times; however, all requests were denied. Jatupat first denied the charges and started to fight his case in the witness examination. Later, Jatupat changed his plea to guilty and the court sentenced him to five years in prison, which was reduced to two years and six months. He told the public that in such cases, there is no other option for the defendant. Case study 2: Patnaree7 Patnaree or Nueng is the mother of Sirawith, or “Ja New”, a well-known democracy activist. Patnaree is a freelancer, working mostly as a housemaid. Patnaree was charged with lèse majesté. The alleged offence consisted of messages in Facebook Messenger where she had a conversation with Burin, a man who had been convicted in another lèse majesté case. The Military Prosecutor filed charges against her before the military court on 1 August 2016. The statement of accusation described that after Burin said something about the monarchy, Patnaree replied without attempting to stop Burin from saying such a thing. Patnaree was released on bail and is fighting her case in military court. Case study 3: Pongsak 8 Pongsak or Sam is a tour agent from Kanchanaburi province. He participated in red shirt political rallies several times. Pongsak’s name appeared on NCPO’s summons order no. 58/2014 issued on 9 June 2014. However, he did not report to the NCPO. Pongsak was arrested on 30 December 2014 at Phitsanulok Transport Station and accused of posting six photos and messages deemed to 7 8 “Patnaree: Facebook chat”. Freedom of Expression Documentation Centre. https://freedom.ilaw.or.th/en/case/768 “Pongsak: Posting lèse-majesté messages on Facebook”. Freedom of Expression Documentation Centre. https://freedom.ilaw.or.th/ en/case/650 be lèse majesté on his own Facebook account named “Sam Parr”. He was charged with six counts under Section 112 of the Criminal Code (lèse majesté) and Section 14 of the Computer Crimes Act. Pongsak stated that during the interrogation the military did not hurt him, but threatened him to make him confess. The military also told him that this case was not a political case but was a matter of national security. The Bangkok Military Court ordered that his case would be tried as a closed-door trial and sentenced Pongsak to 60 years in jail. Since the defendant pleaded guilty, the court halved the sentence to 30 years in jail. Case study 4: Yutthasak9 On 28 January 2014, Yutthasak, who is a taxi driver, provided service to an unknown passenger. During the ride, they discussed politics. It turned out that both had a different opinion. The passenger then used her mobile phone to record their conversation and used it as evidence to press a lèse majesté charge against Yutthasak the next day. Yutthasak was arrested in June 2014, after the coup. He requested bail but the court denied his plea. In the deposition examination, Yutthasak pleaded guilty as he had no lawyer. The Criminal Court sentenced him to five years in prison which was reduced to two years and six months. He was released on 20 May 2016. Case study 5: Wichai10 Wichai, 33 years old, was accused under lèse majesté for creating a fake Facebook account with someone else’s name and picture and posting messages deemed to be a defamation to the King. He was arrested in December 2016 after the owner of the Facebook account accused him. In the statement of accusation, Wichai was charged for 10 counts by the military prosecutor. Wichai first denied all charges and wanted to defend his case but later changed his mind and confessed because the trial took too long. On 9 June 2017, Wichai was taken to military court 9 “Yutthasak: The taxi driver”. Freedom of Expression Documentation Centre. https://freedom.ilaw.or.th/en/case/575 10 “Wichai: faked facebook”. Freedom of Expression Documentation Centre. https://freedom.ilaw.or.th/en/case/722 122 / Unshackling Expression