Thaksin Supporter " Da Torpedo " Convicted Of Lese Majeste

[NextStationBangkok]

Every foreigner is pardoned, rarely Thai people are pardoned. Please read news BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6547413.stm

[Splatter]

Every foreigner is pardoned, rarely Thai people are pardoned. Please read news BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6547413.stm

I chose not to believe that and instead chose to believe the news from The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2005/12/05...s_19334288.html

[bangon04]

AS we all know the Lese Majeste law is there to protect .

In the UK the royal family from time to time have had to take action against what has been said . If we had this law , other than the more serious law of Treason, then the UK Royal family wouldnt have to take such actions against those who libel them, the law would protect them as the law does in Thailand. I am all for it , and against those who slander .

In the case of the UK monarchy, since various members of the family frequently invite ridicule by their personal choices, then they should expect public criticism by the taxpayer. So maybe this is not the best example.

On the other hand, a monarch who manages to stay "above" the mundane and ridiculous, deserves some protection from the jackals of the press for as long as s/he keeps her/his side of the bargain.

[NUMBNUTTS]

Is she out on bail?

About the only intelligent piece, thus far -

Please tread carefully when posting on subjects that involve the Monarchy. Making posts which comment politically in any way on The Royal Family is forbidden by both the forum rules and the laws of Thailand. You will be held accountable for whatever content you link to, and this is one subject where we don't give the benefit of the doubt.

[chonburi]

Breakingnews » Breakingnews

18 years in jail for 'Da Torpedo'

Writer: BangkokPost.com

Published: 28/08/2009 at 12:19 PM

The Criminal Court on Monday morninng sentenced Daranee Chanchoengsilpakul, alias Da Torpedo, to 18 years imprisonment for lese majeste.

The court ruled that Ms Daranee, a United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship member, made several remarks deemed to be lese majeste in a speech on the stage at a UDD rally at Sanam Luang on June 7 last year.

The court sentenced her to 18 years in jail without suspension.

More article,

In some countries and for lesser offence she would probably have been given the suspension (by the neck) rather than jail time.

The Reds won't be happy until Taksin is supreme ruler, neither will Taksin of course.

[thaibkk]

i would say. 1x 6 years for the offence, but 3x ??? how can you get convicted 3x for the same thing ?

[MUYTHAI]

AS we all know the Lese Majeste law is there to protect .

In the UK the royal family from time to time have had to take action against what has been said . If we had this law , other than the more serious law of Treason, then the UK Royal family wouldnt have to take such actions against those who libel them, the law would protect them as the law does in Thailand. I am all for it , and against those who slander .

Lese Majeste law in LOS goes far beyond slander and libel. Obviously you do not know the system in LOS. There is a difference between criticisms and opinions AND slander and libel. Maybe you should learn the differences and the study the system and previous cases in LOS before forming a half-baked opinion and statement.

Obviously, you (sunnyholiday) would like to live in a fascist society. You should move to Saudi Arabia, China, Austria, Germay (yes... Germany and Austria), North Korea or many of the other repressive Muslim countries where people are jailed for stating their opinions and criticisms because there is not freedom of speech.

[steveromagnino]

She was speaking rather strongly not to put too fine a point on it, and as per Jakapop Penkair, both IIRC subsequently tried to weasel out of what they said, claiming misquotes, etc etc when there has been documentation word for word on what both of them said.

It is interesting to note that in both cases, the red shirt movement effectively disowned both people involved at the time, although Jakapop has since been taken back into the fold although there are the usual rumours of his personal involvement with one of the Shinawatras that might have resulted in this fall from grace and subsequent reacceptance.

It is interesting to note that around the world, libel and slander do carry prison sentences in multiple places and essentially based on my understanding of what was said in her case, there might be scope to consider those aspects; one might further consider whether it is appropriate to be saying and whipping up emotions in a mob situation. From McLibel to the various cases involving alleged claims and subsequent retractions in the english media for celebrities, business people and state figures, a person cannot just wander around the world spouting mistruths and there is law to protect them for this.

In JP's case he claimed to have spoken in english with a mistranslation; however there are recordings of his same speech delivered in Thai that confirmed the official Thai translation of the speech he gave at the Foreign Correspondent's club in english - not only showing his intent but also showing that despite his own belief and arrogance, that he really is both a lousy public speaker, a poor communicator and a bit of a knob.

She may need a bit of help from her sponsor Thaksin in prison; even a lot of the red shirts were pretty horrified with what she was saying.

Of course, this is part of a long term strategy, and neither happened by accident. Like getting into a bath, the water at first seems too hot, but dip your toes in a few times, and eventually you can climb in, even if initially it seemed agonising to even consider such a thing.

[TAWP]

I think someone needs to update the Wikipedia entry on lese majesty and its section on Thailand.

It seems their quote of 15 years maximum sentence under Article 112 is wrong.

Does anyone know what it now stands at?

She was given 6 years per count, 3 counts.

Maximum in accordance to the law was therefor 45 years. She got 18.

[MUYTHAI]

i would say. 1x 6 years for the offence, but 3x ??? how can you get convicted 3x for the same thing ?

e.g. three seperate "illegal" statements equals three possible seperate charges.

[csroland]

Sentence is outrageous, and it doesn't really matter what they said, even if they used the foulest language with direct malicious intent (which I doubt, but we'll never know due to secret proceedings). Burma and North Korea are surely in good company now.

I fully agree that the sentence is outrageous adding that in Western democracies this would be subject to penalty (in money). It is an exemplary sentence in a democratic country, where the government has not been elected.

[asiawatcher]

18 years, for misguided verbiage? 10 years for murder, no jail for policemen's son assassination of a cop about to blow the whistle as 200 people in the disco on New Petchaburi Rd did not see the incidence, 2 years for stealing billions from Thai people as a Prime Minister - dam_n... where will it end and who makes up these rules? No wonder Thailand has become Fantasy Land or Adventure Land without the Disney...

[HYENA]

In most developed countries who have (what we know as) freedom of speech, they are prohibited from saying a direct threat of bodily harm/death or state a falsehood as fact (slander, libel). Other than that, many countries believe freedom of speech as a principle is a good thing and assists the checks and balances and enables transparency and accountability. I, too wish some media would shut their traps and put down their pens but enacting a law has far reaching consequences changing the entire dynamics of the people and their government. I cannot imagine someone wanting to enact laws that do not currently exist. Each country has a right to enact its own laws as it sees fit whether I like it or not.

It is unfortunate all the instability over the past few years and the general direction seem to have an ultimate goal because it's happening so rapidly. I wonder what it will be like in 10 years?

I've never heard of changing a constitution...I was under the impression they were meant to be the design of the forefathers and not to be changed...but that's just me!

[bangon04]

AS we all know the Lese Majeste law is there to protect .

In the UK the royal family from time to time have had to take action against what has been said . If we had this law , other than the more serious law of Treason, then the UK Royal family wouldnt have to take such actions against those who libel them, the law would protect them as the law does in Thailand. I am all for it , and against those who slander .

Lese Majeste law in LOS goes far beyond slander and libel. Obviously you do not know the system in LOS. There is a difference between criticisms and opinions AND slander and libel. Maybe you should learn the differences and the study the system and previous cases in LOS before forming a half-baked opinion and statement.

In the UK, the obvious defence against the charge of libel or slander is to establish in court that the words were in probability true .

It stands to reason that this would be impractical in such a case as this, since anyone involved with the defence would have to argue whether the words were true. So the LM law allows the courts to dismiss this aspect of the case without discussion.

I have heard that in any case that "truth" is not in itself a defence against charges of libel or slander in Thailand?

[Plus]

Lese Majeste law in LOS goes far beyond slander and libel. Obviously you do not know the system in LOS. There is a difference between criticisms and opinions AND slander and libel.

I don't know of any cases where anyone was prosecuted for simply expressing opinions or criticisms, and I think I keet a good tab on all LM offences for the past couple of years.

[csroland]

18 years, for misguided verbiage? 10 years for murder, no jail for policemen's son assassination of a cop about to blow the whistle as 200 people in the disco on New Petchaburi Rd did not see the incidence, 2 years for stealing billions from Thai people as a Prime Minister - dam_n... where will it end and who makes up these rules? No wonder Thailand has become Fantasy Land or Adventure Land without the Disney...

These are the "fair democratic" rules copyright by Thai democracy. Disney Land is cheaper and safer, so it is not an option.

[clausewitz]

I have no idea what she said, and no way of finding out. But the important thing is that she must have said something bad. So I think 18 years is too lenient and they need much harsher penalties.

[dominique355]

The dark Middle Ages in a country, which would like to be in the 21st century.

We all know that LM crimes are used to silence political opponents and the punishment is in no relationship to the "crime", especially in view what you get e.g. for slamming your Benz into the crowd and KILL people.

Shame, shame, shame!!

[Moonrakers]

I have no idea what she said, and no way of finding out. But the important thing is that she must have said something bad. So I think 18 years is too lenient and they need much harsher penalties.

How can you think that when, by your own admission, you don't even know what it is she said?

[clausewitz]

It is interesting to note that around the world, libel and slander do carry prison sentences in multiple places and essentially based on my understanding of what was said in her case, there might be scope to consider those aspects; one might further consider whether it is appropriate to be saying and whipping up emotions in a mob situation. From McLibel to the various cases involving alleged claims and subsequent retractions in the english media for celebrities, business people and state figures, a person cannot just wander around the world spouting mistruths and there is law to protect them for this.

thank you for this. So it seems that her speech, even if said in other countries about say the Queen(in britain) or Obama (in Usa)would also get her a long jail sentence (again I have no idea what she said).

18 years is far too lenient.

[minxwhale]

Please tread carefully when posting on subjects that involve the Monarchy. Making posts which comment politically in any way on The Royal Family is forbidden by both the forum rules and the laws of Thailand. You will be held accountable for whatever content you link to, and this is one subject where we don't give the benefit of the doubt.

Agreed. This post should be frozen.

[Plus]

I have no idea what she said, and no way of finding out. But the important thing is that she must have said something bad. So I think 18 years is too lenient and they need much harsher penalties.

She based her speech on the fate of Nepalese royal family and went from there. Or maybe it was the other way around.

Sondhi was charged with LM simply for relaying what she said, these things are not repeated in public in Thailand.

[clausewitz]

I have no idea what she said, and no way of finding out. But the important thing is that she must have said something bad. So I think 18 years is too lenient and they need much harsher penalties.

How can you think that when, by your own admission, you don't even know what it is she said?

well otherwise one is questioning aspects of the Thai judical system and its eminent judges. They heard the evidence and they know it was wrong, why would anyone ever doubt them.

[MUYTHAI]

som num naa

should have been 28 (or 38) years.

Maybe she should be hanged...huh johnny? Are you ready to pull the rope at the gallows johnny? You probably are. Is this your mantra "Down with freedom of speech in all countries!"

[ChiangMaiThai]

Totally crazy.

[davee58]

I have no idea what she said, and no way of finding out. But the important thing is that she must have said something bad. So I think 18 years is too lenient and they need much harsher penalties.

Wow. Profound thought.

Does your brain hurt??

[Moonrakers]

I have no idea what she said, and no way of finding out. But the important thing is that she must have said something bad. So I think 18 years is too lenient and they need much harsher penalties.

How can you think that when, by your own admission, you don't even know what it is she said?

well otherwise one is questioning aspects of the Thai judical system and its eminent judges. They heard the evidence and they know it was wrong, why would anyone ever doubt them.

But you are questioning aspects of the Thai judical system by stating that you think the sentence is too lenient.

[Plus]

We all know that LM crimes are used to silence political opponents ...

No, we don't know that. Da Torpedo is no political opponent, she is a lose nutjob.

Australian writer was not a political opponent, and neither was the guy who uploaded cartoons on the internet.

Jakrapob might be qualified as political opponent, but it's not like LM charge has silenced him, and he hasn't been convicted yet.

So, no, I don't know of any examples of silencing political opponents.

[Thai at Heart]

I have no idea what she said, and no way of finding out. But the important thing is that she must have said something bad. So I think 18 years is too lenient and they need much harsher penalties.

How can you think that when, by your own admission, you don't even know what it is she said?

well otherwise one is questioning aspects of the Thai judical system and its eminent judges. They heard the evidence and they know it was wrong, why would anyone ever doubt them.

Now we are entering the realm of fantasy.

[bangon04]

thank you for this. So it seems that her speech, even if said in other countries about say the Queen(in britain) or Obama (in Usa)would also get her a long jail sentence (again I have no idea what she said).

18 years is far too lenient.

Anyone who threw their shoe at the US president in Washington would not get a prison sentence. Anyone who threw their shoe at the US president in Iraq might well get arrested and sentenced to jail. Anyone who tried throwing a shoe at a (hypothetical) Thai head of state would not live long enough to be arrested by the police.....