Supreme Court acquit Abhisit, Suthep and Ong-art of defamation charges

[webfact]

Supreme Court acquit Abhisit, Suthep and Ong-art of defamation charges



BANGKOK: -- Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and two party executives, Suthep Thuagsuban and Ong-art Klampaibul have been cleared of defaming former Thai Rak Thai executive Dr Prommin Lertsuridej by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s acquittal of the three Democrat executives was announced on Friday the Ratchadapisek Criminal Court.

The case was instituted to the Criminal Court by Dr Prommin who claimed the three Democrats of accusing the Thai Rak Thai party of hiring small parties to contest a by-election in 2006 which was regarded as a violation of the election law.

The Criminal Court acquitted the three Democrats but the Appeals Court acquitted Mr Abhisit and Mr Ong-art but sentenced Mr Suthep to four months’ imprisonment which was suspended for one year.

The Supreme Court ruled that Mr Suthep acted in good faith and did not distort any fact in a way which would harm Dr Prommin. The court found all three Democrats not guilty as charged.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/supreme-court-acquit-abhisit-suthep-and-ong-art-of-defamation-charges


-- Thai PBS 2015-07-24

[Tatsujin]

Confusing ...

The Criminal Court originally acquitted all 3.

The Appeals Court then acquitted Abhisit and Ong-art but sentenced Suthep.

And now the Supreme Court has acquitted all 3 again.

Is that correct? What did all of this cost in time and money, and is Dr Prommin Lertsuridej now liable for all costs?

[Dogmatix]

Confusing ...

The Criminal Court originally acquitted all 3.

The Appeals Court then acquitted Abhisit and Ong-art but sentenced Suthep.

And now the Supreme Court has acquitted all 3 again.

Is that correct? What did all of this cost in time and money, and is Dr Prommin Lertsuridej now liable for all costs?

I believe that Thai courts can award costs to acquitted plaintiffs but the court decides the amount which is usually much less than actual costs.

[ramrod711]

My most fervent wish is that Suthep had been found guilty and put in the same cell as Prompong. That would be a sterling example of reconciliation. The justice system saying we don't care who's side you're on, if you are a divisive scum bag you're going to jail.

[Thailand]

That was unexpected!

[bamnutsak]

"The Supreme Court ruled that Mr Suthep acted in good faith..."

This is the key; you can pretty much say anything you want to disparage your political enemies, as long as you are from the proper side of the divide, and you are acting in "good faith".

The Thai "legal" (not justice) system is at least consistent.

[bino]

Is that correct? What did all of this cost in time and money, and is Dr Prommin Lertsuridej now liable for all costs?

Confusing indeed,when you consider that the three being charged with defamation have been acquitted. Since the charges are found to be invalid, they are now the defamed parties. I do believe they can counter-sue Dr Prommin Lertsuridej.

[Nuddy]

I thought there was a case of murder proposed?

Will that come up soon or have I missed some news?

Regards

[Tatsujin]

Is that correct? What did all of this cost in time and money, and is Dr Prommin Lertsuridej now liable for all costs?

Confusing indeed,when you consider that the three being charged with defamation have been acquitted. Since the charges are found to be invalid, they are now the defamed parties. I do believe they can counter-sue Dr Prommin Lertsuridej.

My thoughts exactly.

I would assume he's had plenty of time to divest his assets however, so the wife, kids, aunt that doesn't exist, maids, cleaners, drivers etc all have become very wealthy lol

[metisdead]

A post in violation of the following forum rule has been removed as well as a reply:

2) You will not use ThaiVisa.com to post any material which is knowingly or can be reasonably construed as false, inaccurate, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law.

You also agree not to post negative comments criticizing the legal proceedings or judgments of any Thai court of law.

[oneday]

Red shirts going to jail, yellow shirts being acquitted.

All as expected.

[halloween]

Red shirts going to jail, yellow shirts being acquitted.

All as expected.

That what was said was true is completely immaterial, of course. Remember, Thaksin called a snap election 14 months after a huge win, because too many were complaining about his blatant corruption, in the expectation of a landslide win. Polling showed that in many seats he would not get the 20% of votes needed to win an unopposed seat after the 3 major parties boycotted the election.

After winning 615 of an unopposed vote, he resigned.

Edited July 24, 2015 by halloween

[rubl]

Red shirts going to jail, yellow shirts being acquitted.

All as expected.

Yellow shirts ?

Well anyway, did the Democrat party fellows do anything wrong? It would seem not, so acquitted.

BTW there do not seem to be 'red shirts' involved in this case either.

[gamini]

A post in violation of the following forum rule has been removed as well as a reply:

2) You will not use ThaiVisa.com to post any material which is knowingly or can be reasonably construed as false, inaccurate, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law.

You also agree not to post negative comments criticizing the legal proceedings or judgments of any Thai court of law.

There are plenty of negative comments criticising the legal proceedings or judgement of any type court of law, so why don't you take action against the persons posting them? They are in contempt of court a serious offence in most countries.

[whybother]

Red shirts going to jail, yellow shirts being acquitted.

All as expected.

What yellow shirts?

[jesimps]

Red shirts going to jail, yellow shirts being acquitted.

All as expected.

What yellow shirts?

C'mon, like me, you didn't just get off the last banana boat. They're as real as redshirts, probably more so and a huge threat to democracy in Thailand.

[LannaGuy]

Red shirts going to jail, yellow shirts being acquitted.

All as expected.

What yellow shirts?

yaaaaawn! do keep up

[halloween]

Look, all you simple minded people who oppose all things red-shirt and Thaksin. Thaksin was before my time and it would seem he did indeed alienate many people. I certainly would not have liked to see drug dealers being put to death like Indonesia is doing and I'm not defending him in the least. At this point, he has such a polarizing affect on this country that he needs to stay away and keep a very low profile so the country has a chance to heal.

The basic premise here is rich (yellow) versus poor (red) and I will always advocate for the poor. Do I think the red shirts are blameless...hell no...there are certainly radicals amongst them that have done some bad things, but they aren't all radicals out to destroy, but many of you who oppose the red-shirts want to paint them all into the same box. Right now the plain fact is the poor people of Thailand (mostly Issan and the north) only have the Red Shirts to advocate for them.

In the meantime, this current government, which I thought when they came into power was going to be neutral like Prayut said, has proven to be anything, but neutral. They have CLEARLY proven to be with the Bangkok elite or (yellows) and they are clearly and systematically cleaning out all the opposition before the next election which will leave the poor people with virtually no representation in the next election and which will further result in a government that is anything, but Democratic.

I'm not saying any given red-shirt did or didn't do what they were charged with and the same for any yellow shirt brought up on charges. I'm only pointing out what the results have been...red-shirts are being convicted right and left and yellow-shirts are being acquitted because the current government and courts are all mostly members of the Bangkok elite if you want to use a different term. That is my opinion based on what I see happening. If those of you who oppose the red-shirts think yellow-shirts are lily white and totally blameless then you are living in a dream world. It's human nature that there will be radicals on all sides of the equation.

If a red-shirt did something bad (not political), but truly bad, caused physical harm to another or a business, then she or he should go to jail and the same goes for any yellow-shirt. If any perceived harm was not physical then it should be a civil case fought between the two parties involving only monetary penalties...period. These defamation laws are being over-used and mis-used such as in the case of the two journalists from PhuketWan.

You call others simple minded, and then you start with equating legal execution of drug dealers in Indonesia to what happened when Thaksin let his police dogs off the leash. Do you recall any teenagers having their balls blow-torched and then hung in a police cell in Indonesia? Do you recall a family cowering behind their refrigerator as police shot the shit out of their house, based on a display of unexplained wealth - they didn't tell the neighbours they had won the lottery?

Here's news, the rest of your rant is just as ignorant and ill-informed.

Actually, his post was spot on but extremists like you (on both sides) will never concede to the other side having a point. You're boring.

Another poster had pointed out some of the glaring inaccuracies, but it seems the post has been deleted. To save you from boredom:

"The basic premise here is rich (yellow) versus poor (red)..." is a simplistic view that is simply wrong. Many anti-Thaksinists are far from wealthy, many of his supporters are far from poor. The 50% of people that didn't vote for his proxy in 2011, are not all "yellow", amart or elite, and include a majority of the people of Bangkok and southern Thailand, better informed and less subjected to his propaganda.

"they are clearly and systematically cleaning out all the opposition" who were the government and who used their power to avoid prosecution for their crimes. They were rejected by the people after they attempted to whitewash themselves, and are now facing charges related to their time in office. why is that surprising, or even unusual?

"the current government and courts are all mostly members of the Bangkok elite" Not all are from Bangkok to start with. The current government is certainly wealthy, is that a change from the last? The courts are all elite - if you mean erudite educated people, I guess they are, same as in every country. Courts made of uneducated yokels tend to get a very bad name and hand down very bad decisions.

[halloween]

You call others simple minded, and then you start with equating legal execution of drug dealers in Indonesia to what happened when Thaksin let his police dogs off the leash. Do you recall any teenagers having their balls blow-torched and then hung in a police cell in Indonesia? Do you recall a family cowering behind their refrigerator as police shot the shit out of their house, based on a display of unexplained wealth - they didn't tell the neighbours they had won the lottery?

Here's news, the rest of your rant is just as ignorant and ill-informed.

I only remember hearing a few times about him making a death penalty for drug-dealers. That's the extent of my knowledge about Thaksin. As I said, simple minded indeed and you prove the point admirably, because you didn't read my post. I said Thaksin was before my time and I wasn't defending him. "Before my time" MEANS I do not know details of his offenses.

Ignorant and ill-informed...555, so elegant and well thought out. Ok, take the rest of my "rant" point-by-point and impress the audience with your educated and informative counterpoint.

You admit ignorance, but then have the gall to call those more informed than yourself simple minded. I wasn't referring to court sentences, but to extra-judicial murder, quite often of innocents. But you don't want to know about that right?

He and his proxy parties have a long history of abuse of office, electoral misconduct, political agitation based on falsehoods, promotion of class division, waste of public funds and simple self-enriching corruption. It appears you don't want to know about that either.

Your wholesale acceptance of his class division propaganda (rich against poor, Bangkok elite) is ample evidence of ignorance.

Edited July 25, 2015 by halloween

[rubl]

Red shirts going to jail, yellow shirts being acquitted.

All as expected.

What yellow shirts?

C'mon, like me, you didn't just get off the last banana boat. They're as real as redshirts, probably more so and a huge threat to democracy in Thailand.

History seems to repeat itself with 'red shirts', but the topic is on two Democrat party members and one former member turned monk.

Interesting is how some here always complain when 'the others' get acquitted, but applaud when 'justly so' their (red) side gets freed. As if justice depends on ones political affiliation or ones interests.

[mojorison]

who da thunk

[rubl]

... but ... but ... but Thaksin is not part of the topic.

Of course defamation laws in Thailand are a bit of an enigma but ALL sides like to make use of them including off topic Thaksin.

Edited July 25, 2015 by rubl

[MZurf]

Look, all you simple minded people who oppose all things red-shirt and Thaksin. Thaksin was before my time and it would seem he did indeed alienate many people. I certainly would not have liked to see drug dealers being put to death like Indonesia is doing and I'm not defending him in the least. At this point, he has such a polarizing affect on this country that he needs to stay away and keep a very low profile so the country has a chance to heal.

The basic premise here is rich (yellow) versus poor (red) and I will always advocate for the poor. Do I think the red shirts are blameless...hell no...there are certainly radicals amongst them that have done some bad things, but they aren't all radicals out to destroy, but many of you who oppose the red-shirts want to paint them all into the same box. Right now the plain fact is the poor people of Thailand (mostly Issan and the north) only have the Red Shirts to advocate for them.

In the meantime, this current government, which I thought when they came into power was going to be neutral like Prayut said, has proven to be anything, but neutral. They have CLEARLY proven to be with the Bangkok elite or (yellows) and they are clearly and systematically cleaning out all the opposition before the next election which will leave the poor people with virtually no representation in the next election and which will further result in a government that is anything, but Democratic.

I'm not saying any given red-shirt did or didn't do what they were charged with and the same for any yellow shirt brought up on charges. I'm only pointing out what the results have been...red-shirts are being convicted right and left and yellow-shirts are being acquitted because the current government and courts are all mostly members of the Bangkok elite if you want to use a different term. That is my opinion based on what I see happening. If those of you who oppose the red-shirts think yellow-shirts are lily white and totally blameless then you are living in a dream world. It's human nature that there will be radicals on all sides of the equation.

If a red-shirt did something bad (not political), but truly bad, caused physical harm to another or a business, then she or he should go to jail and the same goes for any yellow-shirt. If any perceived harm was not physical then it should be a civil case fought between the two parties involving only monetary penalties...period. These defamation laws are being over-used and mis-used such as in the case of the two journalists from PhuketWan.

You call others simple minded, and then you start with equating legal execution of drug dealers in Indonesia to what happened when Thaksin let his police dogs off the leash. Do you recall any teenagers having their balls blow-torched and then hung in a police cell in Indonesia? Do you recall a family cowering behind their refrigerator as police shot the shit out of their house, based on a display of unexplained wealth - they didn't tell the neighbours they had won the lottery?

Here's news, the rest of your rant is just as ignorant and ill-informed.

Actually, his post was spot on but extremists like you (on both sides) will never concede to the other side having a point. You're boring.

Another poster had pointed out some of the glaring inaccuracies, but it seems the post has been deleted. To save you from boredom:

"The basic premise here is rich (yellow) versus poor (red)..." is a simplistic view that is simply wrong. Many anti-Thaksinists are far from wealthy, many of his supporters are far from poor. The 50% of people that didn't vote for his proxy in 2011, are not all "yellow", amart or elite, and include a majority of the people of Bangkok and southern Thailand, better informed and less subjected to his propaganda.

"they are clearly and systematically cleaning out all the opposition" who were the government and who used their power to avoid prosecution for their crimes. They were rejected by the people after they attempted to whitewash themselves, and are now facing charges related to their time in office. why is that surprising, or even unusual?

"the current government and courts are all mostly members of the Bangkok elite" Not all are from Bangkok to start with. The current government is certainly wealthy, is that a change from the last? The courts are all elite - if you mean erudite educated people, I guess they are, same as in every country. Courts made of uneducated yokels tend to get a very bad name and hand down very bad decisions.

- To save me from boredom you should stop posting.

- Of course there are exceptions but what does that prove?? As a general rule the division/struggle is between the Bangkok based "elite" and the great unwashed masses of the north and north-east. The Bogeyman In Dubai awoke a sleeping giant when he gave (for his own selfish purposes) the peasants a hope of actually having a say in running the country. They won't easily wai and go back to the rice paddies no matter how hard Uncle Too tries.

[oneday]

You call others simple minded, and then you start with equating legal execution of drug dealers in Indonesia to what happened when Thaksin let his police dogs off the leash. Do you recall any teenagers having their balls blow-torched and then hung in a police cell in Indonesia? Do you recall a family cowering behind their refrigerator as police shot the shit out of their house, based on a display of unexplained wealth - they didn't tell the neighbours they had won the lottery?

Here's news, the rest of your rant is just as ignorant and ill-informed.

I only remember hearing a few times about him making a death penalty for drug-dealers. That's the extent of my knowledge about Thaksin. As I said, simple minded indeed and you prove the point admirably, because you didn't read my post. I said Thaksin was before my time and I wasn't defending him. "Before my time" MEANS I do not know details of his offenses.

Ignorant and ill-informed...555, so elegant and well thought out. Ok, take the rest of my "rant" point-by-point and impress the audience with your educated and informative counterpoint.

You admit ignorance, but then have the gall to call those more informed than yourself simple minded. I wasn't referring to court sentences, but to extra-judicial murder, quite often of innocents. But you don't want to know about that right?

He and his proxy parties have a long history of abuse of office, electoral misconduct, political agitation based on falsehoods, promotion of class division, waste of public funds and simple self-enriching corruption. It appears you don't want to know about that either.

Your wholesale acceptance of his class division propaganda (rich against poor, Bangkok elite) is ample evidence of ignorance.

If you think that Thailand isn't a class society then you don't live here or you don't live in the same Thailand I do. This country is highly stratified by class based on position and money.

Yes, I do have "gall" don't I, thanks.

Oh, it's not that I don't want to know, but rather I'm talking about current events I'm more familiar with and which I can discuss in general terms. I told you I have heard enough about Thaksin...oh heck, just reread what I wrote.

Nevertheless, bravo "Halloween" for a couple of posts that raise you a notch above "simple minded". They were a little better thought out, though still mostly off the mark.

Go ahead and make your last post so you can have the final say. This will be my last visit to this thread. Goodnight "Halloween". Have a nice day.

Sorry to all the rest for going off topic. Mods can delete it all if they want.

Edited July 25, 2015 by oneday

[halloween]

Another poster had pointed out some of the glaring inaccuracies, but it seems the post has been deleted. To save you from boredom:

"The basic premise here is rich (yellow) versus poor (red)..." is a simplistic view that is simply wrong. Many anti-Thaksinists are far from wealthy, many of his supporters are far from poor. The 50% of people that didn't vote for his proxy in 2011, are not all "yellow", amart or elite, and include a majority of the people of Bangkok and southern Thailand, better informed and less subjected to his propaganda.

"they are clearly and systematically cleaning out all the opposition" who were the government and who used their power to avoid prosecution for their crimes. They were rejected by the people after they attempted to whitewash themselves, and are now facing charges related to their time in office. why is that surprising, or even unusual?

"the current government and courts are all mostly members of the Bangkok elite" Not all are from Bangkok to start with. The current government is certainly wealthy, is that a change from the last? The courts are all elite - if you mean erudite educated people, I guess they are, same as in every country. Courts made of uneducated yokels tend to get a very bad name and hand down very bad decisions.

- To save me from boredom you should stop posting.

- Of course there are exceptions but what does that prove?? As a general rule the division/struggle is between the Bangkok based "elite" and the great unwashed masses of the north and north-east. The Bogeyman In Dubai awoke a sleeping giant when he gave (for his own selfish purposes) the peasants a hope of actually having a say in running the country. They won't easily wai and go back to the rice paddies no matter how hard Uncle Too tries.

Yes, your general rule is exactly what Thaksin's propaganda promotes, but flies in the face of what you choose to ignore, less than 50% voted for his party. I know it hurts, but face it, most of those people are not rich, not well educated, far from elite and not even from bloody Bangkok. But you keep sucking up that red Kool-Aid.

Meanwhile, hopefully laws will be put in place to stop the "great unwashed masses" from electing criminals who feed them false promises, abuse the electoral system, sell their vote to the highest bidder, and enrich themselves with the money of those they supposedly represent.

Edited July 25, 2015 by halloween

[robblok]

My most fervent wish is that Suthep had been found guilty and put in the same cell as Prompong. That would be a sterling example of reconciliation. The justice system saying we don't care who's side you're on, if you are a divisive scum bag you're going to jail.

Agree 100% would be nice to see Suthep in jail too.

[MZurf]

Another poster had pointed out some of the glaring inaccuracies, but it seems the post has been deleted. To save you from boredom:

"The basic premise here is rich (yellow) versus poor (red)..." is a simplistic view that is simply wrong. Many anti-Thaksinists are far from wealthy, many of his supporters are far from poor. The 50% of people that didn't vote for his proxy in 2011, are not all "yellow", amart or elite, and include a majority of the people of Bangkok and southern Thailand, better informed and less subjected to his propaganda.

"they are clearly and systematically cleaning out all the opposition" who were the government and who used their power to avoid prosecution for their crimes. They were rejected by the people after they attempted to whitewash themselves, and are now facing charges related to their time in office. why is that surprising, or even unusual?

"the current government and courts are all mostly members of the Bangkok elite" Not all are from Bangkok to start with. The current government is certainly wealthy, is that a change from the last? The courts are all elite - if you mean erudite educated people, I guess they are, same as in every country. Courts made of uneducated yokels tend to get a very bad name and hand down very bad decisions.

- To save me from boredom you should stop posting.

- Of course there are exceptions but what does that prove?? As a general rule the division/struggle is between the Bangkok based "elite" and the great unwashed masses of the north and north-east. The Bogeyman In Dubai awoke a sleeping giant when he gave (for his own selfish purposes) the peasants a hope of actually having a say in running the country. They won't easily wai and go back to the rice paddies no matter how hard Uncle Too tries.

Yes, your general rule is exactly what Thaksin's propaganda promotes, but flies in the face of what you choose to ignore, less than 50% voted for his party. I know it hurts, but face it, most of those people are not rich, not well educated, far from elite and not even from bloody Bangkok. But you keep sucking up that red Kool-Aid.

Meanwhile, hopefully laws will be put in place to stop the "great unwashed masses" from electing criminals who feed them false promises, abuse the electoral system, sell their vote to the highest bidder, and enrich themselves with the money of those they supposedly represent.

A majority of the Thai population voted for the bogeyman in Dubai and only fanatics like you dispute the fact that even though vote buying did take place the outcome would have been the same without it. And only fanatics like yourself want laws in place to stop the great unwashed masses to elect whoever the he!! they please.

That kind of elitist thinking is quite honestly disgusting. In whatever country you come from are there laws in place to prevent people from electing whoever they want??

Didn't think so....

[hugh2121]

Red shirts going to jail, yellow shirts being acquitted.

All as expected.

That what was said was true is completely immaterial, of course. Remember, Thaksin called a snap election 14 months after a huge win, because too many were complaining about his blatant corruption, in the expectation of a landslide win. Polling showed that in many seats he would not get the 20% of votes needed to win an unopposed seat after the 3 major parties boycotted the election.

After winning 615 of an unopposed vote, he resigned.

Don't see what Thaksin said or did has any relevance whatsoever to the topic.

[halloween]

That what was said was true is completely immaterial, of course. Remember, Thaksin called a snap election 14 months after a huge win, because too many were complaining about his blatant corruption, in the expectation of a landslide win. Polling showed that in many seats he would not get the 20% of votes needed to win an unopposed seat after the 3 major parties boycotted the election.

After winning 615 of an unopposed vote, he resigned.

Don't see what Thaksin said or did has any relevance whatsoever to the topic.

If you read the OP you would understand what the allegedly defamatory statement was. I supplied the historical background to it.

[hugh2121]

Red shirts going to jail, yellow shirts being acquitted.

All as expected.

Yellow shirts ?

Well anyway, did the Democrat party fellows do anything wrong? It would seem not, so acquitted.

BTW there do not seem to be 'red shirts' involved in this case either.

Well anyway, did the Democrat party fellows do anything wrong? It would seem not, so acquitted

At any rate, nothing that the court accepted.