An ex-lèse majesté suspect charged with disobeying a junta order pleaded guilty to failing to report to the junta in June, despite the fact that he had earlier been arrested by the junta.

Nut S., an anti-coup activist accused of defying the coup order which summoned him to report to the coup-makers in June, pleaded guilty during the trial at the military court in Bangkok on Wednesday morning.

Nut was arrested and detained by the military from 7-14 June. However, on 28 June, he was arrested again and brought to the Crime Suppression Division on a charge on defying junta orders.

He was charged with disobeying Order No. 5/2014, which summoned him to report to the junta in late May.

If found guilty Nut could be imprisoned up to two years and fined up to 40,000 baht.

After he pleaded guilty, the court scheduled sentencing for 22 January 2015.

During a preliminary hearing on 2 September, the court stated that the case was not serious and that the police and defendant could request the military to have the case dropped. The prosecutor, however, asked the court to give him a harsh sentence.

In 2009, Nut was charged with lèse majesté and under Article 14 of the Computer Crime Act for sending three lèse majesté video clips to Emilio Esteban, whom the police identified as an Englishman residing in Spain. Esteban ran the now-defunct ‘Stop Lèse Majesté’ blog.

The court sentenced him to nine years in prison, three years for each lèse majesté count. However, he pleaded guilty and the prison term was reduced to four years and six months with the jail term suspended.

See related news:

Man charged with lèse majesté for sending links to Stop Lèse majesté blog