The Appeals Court today overturned a previous verdict and delivered a five-year sentence to Noppawan (lastname witheld), an online user who was charged in October 2008 under the Computer Crimes Act and lèse majesté law, or Article 112 of the Criminal Code, for allegedly posting a defamatory comment against the monarchy on the Prachatai.com webboard.
The user, who went by the nickname "Bento," was detained for ten days in the Women’s Correctional Institution after she was arrested in January 2009. She was later acquitted by the Criminal Court in January 2011 because of insufficient evidence.
The Appeals Court has now overturned the verdict after the prosecution attorney filed an appeal in March 2011 stating that the evidence from the police and attorney was credible. Noppawan was granted bail with 1,000,000 baht bond later in the evening.
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