Six people sentenced for criticising Chon Buri governor over long funeral lineups

By Preewadee Wichaiprasit 
The Nation

 

Pakkarathorn Thienchai

 

A Court in Chon Buri province on Friday sentenced two women and four men to suspended jail terms and fines in the verdict in a libel case launched by the Chon Buri governor over his hosting a funeral-flower-laying ceremony for the late King.

 

The accused were also found guilty of violating the Computer Act.

 

Because all six suspects confessed and had no prior convictions, the Court suspended the sentences to one year. 

 

The Court reduced jail terms from two months to one month for Wilai Sungsut, Wirut Sungsut, Papangkorn Lertkunanukul, Wirin Nompitakcharoen and Jessada Suthamma. Each was fined Bt4,000.

 

The jail term for the sixth suspect, Worapot Thai-aree, was reduced from 40 days to 20 days and the fine reduced from Bt2,666 to Bt1,333.

The Court ordered the six to write apologies on the platforms and media where they defamed the governor.

 

Governor Pakkarathorn Thienchai had been criticised over a funeral-flower-laying ceremony for the late King held in Chon Buri in late October. Ceremonies giving people the opportunity to for people to lay funeral flowers for King Bhumibol Adulyadej were held throughout the country while the official Royal Cremation was held in Bangkok.

 

Due to the large number of people wishing to participate in the ceremony in Chon Buri, many were forced to wait for more than seven hours.

 

Some Chon Buri people expressed their outrage on social media, including on Facebook.

 

The Court was told that they did not cease making libellous statements against the governor even after he had come forward to explain the situation. Therefore the governor decided to take the cases to Court. 

 

It has been reported that the police investigation found that a total of 63 people are suspected of posting the statements.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30335051

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-12-30

That’ll teach you to argue with and criticise your social superiors, peasants!

Edited December 29, 20178 yr by Bluespunk

Where is Chon Buri? N. Korea? Turkey? or perhaps Russia?

because only in these sorts of countries you're not allowed 

to criticize the deal leader...

In the girlfriends village the nobs with the big houses are good men, very good men even the alleged Yaba dealers.

 

They wouldn't say anything less.

Jail and/or fines for expressing an opinion.  Cambodia and Thailand are peas-in-a-pod.

the root cause of all that is wrong in Thailand...''don't speak up''....<deleted> hogwash.....CRAP

The peasants are revolting! 

4 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

The peasants are revolting! 

 

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

many were forced to wait for more than seven hours.

sounds like they had cause; and more use of the ridiculous bit dangerous defamation as a Criminal offense

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The accused were also found guilty of violating the Computer Act.

A law designed to protect the powerful from opinions they dont like.

 

Those 6 people should be happy it didnt turn into a lese majeste case as that would mean the end of their lives as they know it.

Free speech is not free in Thailand.

Where is the line drawn in the sand on this?

 

If I go to a restaurant and I'm served bad food and I post this online can I be thrown in jail.

 

Wow I would hate to be the director of booking.com when he finally goes to Thailand. 1000 years jail.

7 hours ......why not go back home and come back later?

 

Well the courts uphold this travesty 

What do you expect in a country where people get arrested for eating a sandwich in public, as it is considered a silent protest against the 'government'?

 Can’t  help but think there may be more to this than meets the eye in that maybe the complainants are taking the opportunity to air a grudge against the governor/administration in Pattaya that goes further than the flower giving ceremony.

 

As for the event itself, they were clearly struggling with the numbers that turned up though a certain amount of preparation had been done - there was plenty of parking set up all over the city and first aid facilities had been set up. I am sure it could have been organised somewhat better though the sheer volume of people who turned up meant it was never going to run smoothly.

 

32 minutes ago, Orac said:

 Can’t  help but think there may be more to this than meets the eye in that maybe the complainants are taking the opportunity to air a grudge against the governor/administration in Pattaya that goes further than the flower giving ceremony.

 

As for the event itself, they were clearly struggling with the numbers that turned up though a certain amount of preparation had been done - there was plenty of parking set up all over the city and first aid facilities had been set up. I am sure it could have been organised somewhat better though the sheer volume of people who turned up meant it was never going to run smoothly.

 

The complainants wanted to air a grudge?

 

Some bizarre revolutionary cell complaining about the arrangements?

 

The gov't-nay the whole of Thai society at extreme risk from a complaint at the usual organisational f'up?

 

What year were you born-1453 AD?

Some TV posters to be hunted down like rabid beach smokers! not me Gov xx

11 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Some TV posters to be hunted down like rabid beach smokers! not me Gov xx

Living on your knees must be so much fun,eh?

The complainants wanted to air a grudge?
 
Some bizarre revolutionary cell complaining about the arrangements?
 
The gov't-nay the whole of Thai society at extreme risk from a complaint at the usual organisational f'up?
 
What year were you born-1453 AD?

Not at all and personally I think the use of the computer crimes act to stifle this protest is way over the top.

There are many unhappy people in Pattaya at the moment with changes that have been made and the circumstances of curtailed entertainment and events in the mourning period with many ‘rice bowls’ being broken so my thoughts were that this non-political protest gives opportunities for those frustrations to bubble to the surface.






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26 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Living on your knees must be so much fun,eh?

Not to bad down here how's your lofty perch falling less fun eh? 

6 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Not to bad down here how's your lofty perch falling less fun eh? 

Nope...going fine..

 

On your belly next time?

 

A few knocks of the forehead on the ground?

 

A slither here, a slide there?

 

Do you usually threaten people with being hunted down?

 

 

6 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Nope...going fine..

 

On your belly next time?

 

A few knocks of the forehead on the ground?

 

A slither here, a slide there?

 

Do you usually threaten people with being hunted down?

 

 

More med's doctor the keyboard diarrhea terrible today.

1 hour ago, Orac said:

As for the event itself, they were clearly struggling with the numbers that turned up though a certain amount of preparation had been done - there was plenty of parking set up all over the city and first aid facilities had been set up. I am sure it could have been organised somewhat better though the sheer volume of people who turned up meant it was never going to run smoothly.

I haven't been there, but I have no doubt to not believe you.

And that makes this whole thing even worse: 6 people complain while thousands of others are happy and show understanding that things did not work out 100% given the large number of people going there.

 

But the remarks of the 6 people have "hurt" the ego of the governer so much that they need to be prosecuted. Instead he should have just swallowed the comments and let it slide, or point out that thousands of others were happy. But no, his ego was hurt and he lost face. If there wasn't a court case nobody would have known about the complaints as they would have drowned in all the selfies and positive messages... (Streisand effect).

 

The whole concept of "face" is so damaging for Thailand.

I was there and lined up for many hours in the hot sun, dressed in all black.

 

The line moved very slowly, about six people every thirty minutes.

 

The interior was filled with chairs, so very little space for visitors.

 

I was informed the space and seating inside was reserved for the VIP guests.

 

In the evening the line moved very quickly. 

 

I do not think the issue was the size of the crowd, but rather the few people allowed in at one time.

 

As a comparison, I was in Chinatown during Chinese new year, at their main temple, which was more crowded but the lines moved very quickly as they did not restrict the number of people allowed in at a time.

 

 

I do not know what the official explanation is as I do not speak Thai. Not do I really care ?

Libel and computer crimes laws here are ridiculous and very open to abuse.

My Mrs went to the same place as you with 3 of her friends, they were in line for over 8 hours, the crazy thing is they seemed to accept it without any complaints, I stayed at home and watched the whole thing on TV.

22 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

More med's doctor the keyboard diarrhea terrible today.

"T'was bryllig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.."

 

Which is not only the best description of sakdina as I saw and experienced it but shows what this topic is all about.

 

To utilize Carroll for a moment..

 

"T'was graaping and the slithy toves did keep their place.... for fining was the usual dis grace..."

 

I note that the fine was about eight times that of killing someone whilst drunk when driving a car.

 

 

I was there and lined up for many hours in the hot sun, dressed in all black.
 
The line moved very slowly, about six people every thirty minutes.
 
The interior was filled with chairs, so very little space for visitors.
 
I was informed the space and seating inside was reserved for the VIP guests.
 
In the evening the line moved very quickly. 
 
I do not think the issue was the size of the crowd, but rather the few people allowed in at one time.
 
As a comparison, I was in Chinatown during Chinese new year, at their main temple, which was more crowded but the lines moved very quickly as they did not restrict the number of people allowed in at a time.
 
 
I do not know what the official explanation is as I do not speak Thai. Not do I really care [emoji2]

Me also, queued for 10 hours.

There were three separate queues which was why it moved so slowly. When we got in eventually we were literally urged by officials to run to where the presentations were being done and there looked to be more than nine people being done at a time - possibly two sets of 9.

Incidentally, when we got out at around 9pm we checked the queue and it was still back to Friendship not much further forward from where we started.


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I haven't been there, but I have no doubt to not believe you.
And that makes this whole thing even worse: 6 people complain while thousands of others are happy and show understanding that things did not work out 100% given the large number of people going there.
 
But the remarks of the 6 people have "hurt" the ego of the governer so much that they need to be prosecuted. Instead he should have just swallowed the comments and let it slide, or point out that thousands of others were happy. But no, his ego was hurt and he lost face. If there wasn't a court case nobody would have known about the complaints as they would have drowned in all the selfies and positive messages... (Streisand effect).
 
The whole concept of "face" is so damaging for Thailand.

It was more than six that were complaining, it is just that they have sentenced six so far.

Not sure how much of it is hurt ego and how much is a ham-fisted attempt to shut down discussion. Also it needs to be remembered that they are accusing him of mishandling a royal event so he will be under pressure from the Junta that he represents to try and make this go away.

I don’t think anybody was happy as it was a very solemn event though I didn’t see anyone upset or angry at the situation.


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