8 lèse majesté convicts ask PM to seek royal pardon for them
‘Now all of us feel guilty and are very sorry for what we have done wrong. So we have decided not to fight our cases, and have pleaded guilty so that the court would decide on our punishment to end court proceedings, and we could exercise our right to petition for a royal pardon’, say the convicts in their letter to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra dated 9 March.
They asked the Prime Minister to help seek a royal pardon to ‘free them from suffering.’
According to Sections 259-261 of the Criminal Procedure Code, those whose court cases are finished can seek a royal pardon through the Minister of Justice, or the Minister or Cabinet can, on their own initiative, propose to HM the King a royal pardon for convicts.
The 8 lèse majesté convicts include Surachai Danwatthananusorn, Warawut Thanangkorn (or Suchart Nakbangsai), Joe Gordon, Suriyan Kokpuey, Nat Sattayapornpisut, Sathian Rattanawong, Wanchai Saetan and Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul.
Surachai was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, Warawut 3 years, Joe 2.5 years, Suriyan 3 years and 15 days, Nat 4.5 years, Sathian 3 years, Wanchai 15 years and Daranee 15 years.
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As a resident of Thailand, I
As a resident of Thailand, I am very interested in the application of the lese majeste laws and I have followed many cases. So it surprised me that of these I only immediately recognized the names of Surachai Danwatthananusorn, Joe Gordon, and Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul.
So I wanted to find out about the others. I googled the name of Suchart Nakbangsai. What came up was an MICT page saying this
"Sorry for any inconvenience.
The page you are trying to visit has been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.".
I googled the name of Nat Sattayapornpisut and clicked on an article and got this message "The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology has temporarily ceased the service to access such kind of information."
I googled the other names and remembered who these people were - a CD seller, a blogger, a shoe maker. I was reminded that I don't recognize their names because the trials were secret, the newspapers maintained a discreet and respectful silence, and these were not important or interesting people.
It is terrible to see the ritual humiliation all of these people are forced to go through.
For what?
This is a very smart move, if
This is a very smart move, if Yingluck requests a pardon it appears as though her red credentials are intact and it draws hostility from the anti-democracy forces in Thailand. If she doesn't, the reds know precisely where they stand in respect of this duplicitous government. If she does the usual Thai thing and delays, she aoppears reluctant to carry out her pre-election promises and everyone in Thailand will see it.
If she requests the pardon (and I don't see how she can avoid it politically), then the thats a no-win situation as well. If the pardons are granted, the judiciary, the yellow-shorts and the so-called democrat party look like fools for persecuting (oops, prosecuting) in the first place. If the pardons are not granted then the Thai people know precisely who was behind the coup and every machination undertaken against the phrai since the coup.
And with 8 of them, the issue is unlikely to be able to be quietly swept under the high-capacity Thai carpet as it could hae been with just 1 or 2.
Nice one Cyril. Lets wait and see what happens, but at the moment I can't see how this is anything but what in rugby is called a 'hospital pass' because the recipient of the passed ball gets nailed.
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Off-topic, wasn't it nice to see Sondhi Boonyaratgalin put on the spot over the coup mastermind? I can imagine the wriggling feeling he got inside as the whole Thai nation suddenly concludes he is hoding something. I was particularly entertained by his freudian slip. When asked who was the mastermind, his first response was to say he was loyal to the king.
Must be easy to get to be a general in the Thai army. No brains required.
Sonthi was given the
Sonthi was given the opportunity of playing the role of the fall guy. He either did not pick up on it or refused to play along.
Hey, that's the greastet! So
Hey, that's the greastet! So with ll this brain power AWHFY?