Facebookers Face 8 Years in Jail for Criticizing Thai Cops

[John1012]

This country seems to be getting worse in regard to freedom of speech. First it is do not criticize or comment on the Ratchapakdi Park fiasco (despite it being so obvious that corruption was involved), do not comment on politics or present political opinions even if you are a university lecturer teaching political science, and now do not criticize the police. Next it will be "Do not criticize the ban on criticism."

Bloody hell, when are they going to introduce thought police to this new Orwellian state.

Attitude adjustment? Thought police are already here. The only reason that we 'Falangs' are reasonaably free to express our opinions is that because we are not Thais we have external means of publicising our views, and if enough negative views appear, then the international standing of Thailand will suffer, so costing Thailand MONEY.

[waldroj]

A "law" unto themselves, gone to the dogs.

Speaking of dogs, Thailand needs more (watchdogs)!

Part of a bureaucracy with zero ethics, no code of conduct, and no accountability.

Nothing changing any time soon.

[duckmandon]

So much for freedom of speach.

[todlad]

if the service isn't good enough then expect to be criticised, it's all part of feedback and continued improvements

and if you think you are beyond criticism be careful about the can of worms you are about to open, it will come back and bite you hard

If this woman broke the law then prosecute her for the offence she committed and move on, this libel accusation is pure nonsense and any reasonable court will see it that way

So what did she actually say?

If you don't know what she said then how can you tell us that "... any reasonable court will see it that way ..."? If you do know what she said, why not enlighten us: put it in quotation marks and explain why you are repeating it, just in case a reasonable court doesn't agree with your hypothesis.

Are you aware that by talking the way you are, you are now in the firing line?

Watch out lad!

[todlad]

So much for freedom of speach.

No one is granted the freedom to libel.

[todlad]

A "law" unto themselves, gone to the dogs.

Speaking of dogs, Thailand needs more (watchdogs)!

Part of a bureaucracy with zero ethics, no code of conduct, and no accountability.

Nothing changing any time soon.

images (14).jpg

Can you explain what you mean?

[zackattack]

This is Thailand plain and simple,don't like it nobody's asking you to stay, and if you can't leave well then just sit back and have a fanta preferably Orange

[SuwadeeS]

I know about a case, where a Thai shot a foreigner. She got 1000 Baht on a one year probation.

8 years for not even hurting or touching somebody.

It is getting to be the worst place on the planet.

[lungnorm]

Jail for criticizing the Police Huh!!!! so much for retirement paradise. May as well retire to China and have a bit less freedom of speech.

[toooa]

Thailand is well on it's way to become the hub of morals.....

they invented morality didn't they?

[ggt]

Placing citizens, journalists, and farangs in jail for criticizing Thai officials make this country appear more like a communist dictatorship than an fledgling democracy....

It truly worries me...and I am sure many others...to see Thailand heading down the road to what appears will surely become self-destruction...

Sad commentary on Thai officials...thin skinned and thick skulled...IMHO

[whatproblem]

The lady was wrong but a possible 8 years ,she has learnt her lesson ,but the Thais need to show their power ,real men

[whatproblem]

Will this take 21 years for justice or will this be quick because oh so important ?

[F4UCorsair]

if the service isn't good enough then expect to be criticised, it's all part of feedback and continued improvements

and if you think you are beyond criticism be careful about the can of worms you are about to open, it will come back and bite you hard

If this woman broke the law then prosecute her for the offence she committed and move on, this libel accusation is pure nonsense and any reasonable court will see it that way

"...any reasonable court will see it that way."

Well, herein lies the problem for the accused.

The problem they face, and what us foreigners don't realize, is that the law/s in Thailand, and some other Asian countries, are not the same as what we foreigners know at home.

The line between criminal and civil law is blurred, and what we know as civil offences at home, are in fact, criminal offences in Thailand, jail time may result, where at home a cash settlement would result.

[saminoz]

Well, let's just hope thai police doesn't start browsing english forums...

Highly unlikey, most RTP are illiterate thugs.

The issue here is they are trying to attack the symptoms instead of the virus.

[mercman24]

no we are ok on here guys, it said FACEBOOK, not THAIVISA, we are coming next lol !! and next there will be a wall built between north and south

[zyphodb]

We better be careful on here too,if they ever get to read some

of what is said about them on here,there could be a few arrests,

they are very sensitive,8 years is more than you would get for

murder !.

regards Worgeordie

The one lucky thing for us on these forums is, if they cant get fluent English speaking Thai teachers because of the low pay, they're not going to have much luck getting them in the RTP....

[samuibeachcomber]

the whole point of social media was for the public in general to be able to express a point of view without fear of intimidation,i guess it did n't work out.Governments dont like being criticised and clampdowns will get worse as security is deemed to get worse.

Welcome to 1984.

[saminoz]

We better be careful on here too,if they ever get to read some

of what is said about them on here,there could be a few arrests,

they are very sensitive,8 years is more than you would get for

murder !.

regards Worgeordie

I love the Thai police and I know they do an excelent job!

Especially the brave officers who work in the gold shops all day..

I feel very safe every time I go in to buy more gold.

( I will also post this on my Facebook page )

Great move, it's highlyunlikely that they'll ever understand the sarcasm!

[Micbozy]

Oh wait, customers complain a lot on my FB web page, please lock them up as well.

[saminoz]

Holy crap !!! I am going to jail for sure, as I have spent years having

a field day regarding my opinion of the gang of corrupt buffoons known

as the " Royal" Thai Police...... Oh wait, I have already left Thailand

so I should be safe. Unless they extradite me... :-)

Calling them the Royal Thai Police is surely the greatest act of Lesse Majeste imaginable? It is the greatest insult to His Majesty perpetrated in Thailand

[dhream]

I don't know if the law has changed in Britain, but in the eighties, it was technically impossible to insult a Police officer. Verbal abuse was seen as part of the work that so many people here allegedly 'don't understand' according to Boss man BiB on here. Clearly those expensive learning trips to senior police colleges overseas were a waste of good tea money. In all seriousness, the slide to totalitarianism continues, inch by inch. So slow nobody notices, until the truck pulls up outside the home...

[BlindMagician]

A Farang Buddy of mine has been selling Condo's for the last 17 years in Pattaya.

These days he has 2 categories of clients left:

- Long term Farang residents are clearly on the sellers side.

- Only "new Farang's" are left on the buyers side.

Witch side is better equipped to assess "where Thailand is going" ?

Should this tell us something?

Cheers.

Would you expect it to be the other way around? Think about it.

You need a more comprehensive analysis.

[Minnehaha]

Some people just don’t understand our work, and I guess we cannot make everyone understand our work.”

That's a classic.

"To Serve and Protect" ?

[saminoz]

if the service isn't good enough then expect to be criticised, it's all part of feedback and continued improvements

and if you think you are beyond criticism be careful about the can of worms you are about to open, it will come back and bite you hard

If this woman broke the law then prosecute her for the offence she committed and move on, this libel accusation is pure nonsense and any reasonable court will see it that way

"...any reasonable court will see it that way."

Well, herein lies the problem for the accused.

The problem they face, and what us foreigners don't realize, is that the law/s in Thailand, and some other Asian countries, are not the same as what we foreigners know at home.

The line between criminal and civil law is blurred, and what we know as civil offences at home, are in fact, criminal offences in Thailand, jail time may result, where at home a cash settlement would result.

Wrong. In Thailand, regardless of civil or criminal law, a cash settlement is nearly always the result

[spermwhale]

This is the ugly underbelly of Thailand's legal system: CRIMINAL libel and slander laws. In civilized countries those are CIVIL matters and you can sue for damages, but you can't be sent to jail.

If they wanted to enforce this thoroughly, every poster on ThaiVisa

would be looking at jail time.

[Suradit69]

Well an 8 year sentence isn't a moral lessons is it, it's a legal one. Duh

"If convicted on all three counts, Peerasuth and Sukanya face up to eight years in jail for their comments."

They haven't been sentenced. Most of these articles are written (and read) by drama queens who act as if the people were already on bread & water and chained up in some dungeon. Realistically they'll probably walk and, as was said, the point was that the two were not accurate in their accusations against the police ... a common occurrence here on TV where moronic imagination and confusion fill entire threads.

[SiamPictures]

Thailand have very strict laws regarding to what you can write about others on the internet, and the laws is not new.

6 years ago, one falang wrote not nice things about another falang on Facebook. The falang who had bad things written about him took the matter to the police.

The Facebook post was not in Thai and had to be translate so the police could understand. The falang who wrote on face book had to pay a big fine or face jail.

You can talk a lot about "freedom of speech".

But you have to ask yourself, is it fair that somebody can talk bad and about you or your business. Yes you can say if it is true, but there is many lies out there.

You see many examples of how a business write false reviews about a competitor on reviews site like trustpilot .com. I have worked with internet reputation management, and a real cash cow for me was to get false reviews and lies removed for my costumers.

So maybe Thailand have better rules than you will find in many other countries. One of the black arts in internet marketing is called deception management. It is very easy to spread lies on the internet and make people believe them.

So i think Thai rules are fair. If somebody write a lie about you and your company it is not cheap to get the lies removed from the internet. And many times a lie about you can be on a site you do not know, so you have virtually no chance to defend yourself.

[gandalf12]

"Peerasuth said he called officers at Krabi Police Station about the incident, but no one picked up the phone, so he took the woman to the hospital on his own. Even after the woman was admitted at the hospital, no officer showed up to assist her, he wrote.

“So, these are police that serve the people? If the victim was your own relative, what would you think? This kind of thing happens almost every day, but don’t you dickheads think about fixing it at all?” he wrote in a post set to be publically viewable.

Sompong said Peerasuth’s account of events was false, because the man in fact never alerted his station to the incident.

“He said he was angry that he called us and we didn’t respond to the scene. But actually, he was calling 191. He never called us. And maybe the 191 people didn’t pick up the phone, that’s why he got angry,” Sompong said."

Teaching a moral lesson?

Yeah, right, that's what's happening here.

Then what is the point of having 191 if no one is going to answer?

[Time Traveller]

Attempts to reports a violent crime, police ignore it. He complains on social media, and now gets sentenced to prison.......don't worry people the resident thaivisa sexpats will be along soon to tell everyone how great thailand is compared to those police state western countries where everything is banned.