On 2 Nov, the Criminal Court dismissed a bail request for lèse majesté suspect Surachai Danwatthananusorn, citing that his alleged crimes carry severe punishment and affect the feelings of the public.  

Karom Polpornklang, Surachai’s lawyer, said that he had sought bail for his client at least 5 times already since Surachai was arrested on 22 Feb this year, and this time he offered a one-million baht bond as surety to the court.

The lawyer said that he would request the Appeals Court next week for bail for both Surachai and Somyos Phruksakasemsuk, who had also been denied bail on the previous day.

The court has repeatedly denied bail to his clients and cited the same reason, despite the fact that they are willing to fight their cases and will not flee.  They never tried to flee despite being aware of the charges long before they were arrested.  And they would not be able to tamper with any evidence whatsoever because everything is already in the investigators’ files, he said.

If the Appeals Court still affirms the lower court’s decisions, he will ask the Constitutional Court to consider whether denial of bail is against the Constitution, because according to the charter, suspects have the right to bail and are presumed innocent.

The first hearing of prosecution witnesses in Somyos’s case will be held on 21 Nov in Sa Kaew province in the east.  He will then be taken for further hearings in several provinces including Phetchabun, Nakhon Sawan and Songkhla, because the public prosecutor will not bring witnesses to Bangkok.  The lawyer said that he had already objected to this arrangement for fear that his client would be harmed during the travel and because he considered this a form of persecution abuse, but the court eventually agreed with the public prosecutor.

On 26 Oct, Anon Nampha, lawyer for red shirts and lèse majesté defendants, told Prachatai that as a result of the floods, Bangkok Remand Prison had told detainees to tell their family members to submit bail requests for them for fear that the prison would be inundated.  He then made bail requests for Joe Gordon and Suraphak, but the requests were dismissed by the court.

Somyos was arrested on 30 April at the immigration checkpoint in Aranyaprathet, Sa Kaew province, when he was leading a tourist group to Cambodia.  He was charged with publishing two articles in his Voice of Taksin magazine in February and March 2010.

Surachai was arrested on 22 Feb at his home in Nonthaburi, and was charged with a public speech at the red shirts’ stronghold at Imperial Lad Phrao on 18 Dec 2010.  He now faces multiple lèse majesté charges.

Joe Gordon, a Thai-born American citizen, was arrested on 24 May at his hometown in Nakhon Ratchasima.  He was charged with translating the banned book ‘The King Never Smiles’ and creating a blog which contained articles offensive to the monarchy.  He initially denied all the charges, but after being repeatedly denied bail he pleaded guilty in court on 10 Oct.  The court at first set 9 Nov to give its verdict, but, because of the floods, the date has been postponed indefinitely.  A court official told Prachatai that the verdict would probably be given next year.