Case study 4: Pravit Rojanaphruk19 Pravit Rojanaphruk, a renowned and awardwinning journalist from the online newspaper Khaosod English, was charged with two counts of sedition for authoring and publishing a series of messages on Facebook (each message was posted on a separate date): Junta representatives called me twice yesterday to express their displeasure over a photo of me showing the middle finger to the junta-sponsored draft charter. I told them in fact the photo was uploaded on Facebook and Twitter as a set of three pictures and it includes a photo of my giving a thumbs up to the same document. I am ready to defend freedom of expression and will neither run nor delete the photo. It’s ironic that the very people who teardown the previous 2007 constitution in an act of military coup now want people to treat their own juntasponsored draft charter […]. With the junta now wanting to limit questions to junta leader General Prayuth to 4 per session, here’s my four questions. 1) When will there really be free & fair elections? 2) When will you stop being a dictator while depending on taxpayers’ money without their consent for your salary & perks? 3) When will you apologize to the people for having illegitimately seized power in a coup? 4) When will you stop fooling yourself & others by telling us through the song you claim to have written that you are only asking for a little time in power? Yingluck’s trial, with verdict coming soon will be a test of will of both those in power and pro-Yingkuck Redshirts. She may become Thailand’s most visited prisoner and Buddha knows what may happen from there. Yingluck insists that the junta has already confiscated her money in the bank accounts prior to Aug 25 verdict while Prayuth flatly denied. If this is the case, what kind of justice is it? A Voice TV reporter tweeted saying a soldier shouted expletive at her and other reporters and threatened to confiscate their cameras 19 “Pravit Rojanaphruk: Sedition charges after Facebook posts”. Freedom of Expression Documentation Centre. https://freedom. ilaw.or.th/en/case/798 while reporting about government’s rice allegedly selling at a much lower rate than market price. Hail Prayuth’s men in uniform and Juntaland! Severe flood hitting Sakon Nakorn and Sukhothai provinces. Wait until Prayuth is done with his weekly monologue first. A local news source from TV station told me he heard no warning about incoming flash flood in Sakon Nakorn province. Looking at the pictures of row of cars being inundated and local hotel not moving their beds from now flooded ground floor and we could have guessed that. Military rule is top down. You wait for the order. The case is still being investigated by police. In addition, Pravit was also charged under the Computer Crimes Act. It should also be noted that during the legal proceedings against deposed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, there was a renewed spate of sedition charges by the NCPO to quell political dissent surrounding the trial. Pravit is also very active in criticising the NCPO on his personal Facebook and Twitter accounts. Pravit was, at least twice, summoned to report and detained in a military camp in order to stop him from expressing his opinions. But the military summons did not stop him. This case therefore can be considered as another step from the NCPO to suppress Pravit. Case study 5: Preecha20 Preecha, a 77-year-old former schoolteacher, was arrested on sedition charges for giving food and flowers to a pro-democracy demonstrator who was leading a peaceful march and rally. The rally was protesting military trials of civilians. He was also convicted of a separate charge for violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings; his sedition charges were dropped by a military prosecutor. This is one of the most repressive uses of the sedition charge under the regime of the NCPO, as it was used in a way that is clearly distorted from its original conception, due to the political motivations of the government to repress any form of dissent. There could be no reasonable 20 “Preecha: gave flowers to the protester”. Freedom of Expression Documentation Centre. https://freedom.ilaw.or.th/en/case/692 126 / Unshackling Expression