Man jailed for two years for selling lèse majesté book

The appeal court last week gave a bookseller two years in jail for selling a banned book on the killing of King Ananda, a former king and older brother of the current King. He had earlier been acquitted by the court of first instance. 
 
The appeal court on Thursday sentenced Defendant U. (name and last name withheld at the defendant’s request) to three years in jail, but since his testimony was beneficial to the case, the jail term was reduced by one third. 
 
Defendant U. was accused of selling the book ‘The Devil’s Discus’ at a pro-establishment yellow shirt rally in 2006. The book, written by English-South African author Rayne Kruger and published in 1964, was declared illegal by the Thai authorities in 2006. It was translated into Thai by Chalit Chaisithiwet and a Thai version was published in 1974. According to Wikipedia, as soon as the book was published, it was banned in Thailand and Kruger was also banned from further entry to Thailand. 
 
Covers of the Devil's Discus in English and the in Thai. Photo Courtesy of New Mandala and FACTHAI
 
According to the accusation, there are six sections in the book which constitute lèse majesté. The six sections are the author’s presentation of “theories” about the cause of the former King’s death which involve the current King. The author concluded that the former King was likely to have committed suicide because his relationship with a foreign woman was unacceptable.  
 
In passing a guilty verdict, the appeal court reasoned that since Defendant U. is an experienced book seller, he should in fact have known that the content was lèse majesté. The defendants’ claim that he did not have knowledge of the content of the book therefore is unsound. The defendant was also caught selling another banned book involving the monarchy issue, the court added. 
 
The police arrested him and confiscated a copy of the book and also a copy of the Same Sky journal, the “Monarchy and Thai society” issue of Oct-Dec 2005 (the Coca Cola issue). The two works were banned under the now-abolished Printing Act. The Public Prosecutor, however, only pressed charges for selling ‘The Devil’s Discus’.  
 
The court of first instance earlier ruled that the book had content defaming the King, and the writer, Kruger, intended to insult the King. The court, however, acquitted the defendant U. because the prosecutors failed to prove that the defendant knew that the book had lèse majesté content. 
 
During the trial in camera, the prosecutors brought a number of witnesses, including Thongthong Chandrangsu, an expert on monarchical ceremonies and Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, to testify whether they felt the book constituted lèse majesté. All of the prosecution witnesses, although admitting they only read the six excerpts of the book selected by the police, and had never read the whole book, said they considered the book lèse majesté.  Meanwhile, a defence witness, Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned royalist and Article 112 critic, said that he had finished the book, both in the original English version and the Thai translation, and that when read in its entirety, it did not necessarily lead the reader to have a defamatory attitude toward the current King. 
 
The trial of this case was held in camera. 

 

Since 2007, Prachatai English has been covering underreported issues in Thailand, especially about democratization and human rights, despite the risk and pressure from the law and the authorities. However, with only 2 full-time reporters and increasing annual operating costs, keeping our work going is a challenge. Your support will ensure we stay a professional media source and be able to expand our team to meet the challenges and deliver timely and in-depth reporting.

• Simple steps to support Prachatai English

1. Bank transfer to account “โครงการหนังสือพิมพ์อินเทอร์เน็ต ประชาไท” or “Prachatai Online Newspaper” 091-0-21689-4, Krungthai Bank

2. Or, Transfer money via Paypal, to e-mail address: [email protected], please leave a comment on the transaction as “For Prachatai English”