Submitted on Thu, 17 Sep 2015 - 02:53 PM
An ex-lèse majesté convict was found guilty by the Appeal Court for failing to answer a junta summons after months of intimidation from the military.
Nat brings shorts, flip flops, and a toothbrush in a plastic bag to the court because he expected to be put behind bars again.
On 17 September 2015 the Appeal Court at Dusit District ruled that Nat Sattayapornpisut was guilty of failing to answer a summons of the junta’s NCPO (National Council of Peace and Order)’s summons. Nat was punished with a fine of 4,000 baht, lessened to 2,000 after pleading guilty.
The Court of First Instance ruled to jail the defendant for one year and 10 days without a fine. The defendant was in jail for five days before being granted bail of 40,000 baht.
Nat’s prison sentence of 2 months and 20 days was also dropped in accordance with Article 55 of the Criminal code, which drops prison sentences that are less than 3 months.
Yingcheep Atchananon from the Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) stated that this is the first political and freedom of expression case that has exercised Section 55 of the Criminal Code. This law is usually exercised for minor cases, like traffic offenses.
“This is a good sign that shows that the courts are trying to find ways to avoid handing out jail sentences,” said Yingcheep.
Nat stated that the military had been contacting him since July, even forbidding him to go overseas without informing them first. Therefore, Nat was fully prepared to go to jail after today's hearing.
Nat’s case was tried at the civil court instead of the martial court since his alleged offenses happened on 25 May, which was before the NCPO announced that the military courts had the power to try certain cases instead of the civil courts. Nat’s case is also the first case of failure to report to the junta to be tried in a civilian court.
Nat's name was listed in the NCPO’s summons of 24 May 2014. He was held under house arrest from 1 pm of 7 June 2014. Then, he was taken to detention at a military camp for 7 days before being released and charged with the above case.
In 2009, Nat was charged with lèse majesté under Article 112 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. Nat pleaded guilty and his sentence was reduced to four years and six months. During his incarceration he received a Royal Pardon and was released on 19 April 2012, after having been jailed for two years and four months. Upon his release, he worked as a translator, ran an online business, and worked as an employee in shops.
Nat informed human rights organizations that during his military detention, he was blindfolded and held in a house he suspected was located in a military camp. He was informally interrogated multiple times. In the formal interrogation, attended by many military officers, he was mainly asked about funding for political prisoners and gatherings of ex-lèse majesté convicts. The security authorities were deeply displeased with these gatherings, where ex-lèse majesté convicts even took photos together. Nat had replied that these were personal gatherings since the convicts knew each other in jail, and were not political gatherings of any kind.
