Leader of red shirts who burnt Ubon city hall given life sentence

[lostmebike]

Great. Good to see justice actually being done.

Life sentence for arson ? Or did people die in the arson ?

.. yet someone so easily could have been in that building.

SOM NOM NA to him.

Edited December 16, 2015 by lostmebike

[NongKhaiKid]

Freedom Fighters.

Unless of course, you adhere to guys like this.

See, proof positive the PM is ' aiming ' to sort out problems and troublemakers.

[Broken Record]

Section 218. Penalty

Whoever sets fire to:

1. A building, vessel or floating house in which a human being dwells;
2. A building, vessel or floating house used for storage or manufacture of goods;
3. A house of entertainment or meeting place;
4. A building which is domain public of State, public place or place for performing religious ceremonies;
5. A railway station, airport, or public parking or mooring place for cars or vessel;
6. A steam-boat or motor-boat of five tons upwards, airplane or train used for public transportation, shall be punished with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment of five to twenty years.

Unless of course you're rich or have the right connections, then you can do whatever you want to and get away with it.

[JAG]

a life sentence for arson doesn't sound like justice. But I guess since the accused were red shits, justice has been served right ?

Stil waiting when the sharp shooters are going to face justice...

It was part of a co-ordinated terror attack across the whole country.

Doesn't matter who it is - it is a very serious crime.

A terror attack in which the main victims were a few buildings. Oh I forgot about the coordinated terror attack on over 90 thais in the streets of bangkok of course. However the guilty party of that coordinated attack will never face justice of course.

Give me a break please. Life sentence for Arson is ridiculous.

So are you saying the supreme court judges are displaying a personal bias against these people because of their political affiliation and allowing that to influence their decisions?

So are you making a particularly unsubtle attempt to draw sjaak327 into saying something that will get him suspended (or in the current climate worse)?

[sharecropper]

The failure to arrest and punish the grenade thrower caught on the Convenience Food Store CCTV to my mind remains one of the most outrageous omissions in these recent double-standards times. It's just shocking.

[bangkokheat]

what a joke, the minivan drivers that drive recklessly and kill/maime others deserve life sentences, not arsonists where there is no fatality

[scorecard]

The red shirts who fire bombed Udon Thani City Hall were supposedly led by two police sub-lieutenants who then went on the run.

I've never heard anything about them ever being located, not officially anyway, and I can only speculate as to how much effort, or otherwise, actually went into finding them

And especially when you think of who 'controlled' the police at that time, and there would be little doubt that most police would not have challenged the directions given from the 'controller'.

[pedro01]

Section 218. Penalty

Whoever sets fire to:

1. A building, vessel or floating house in which a human being dwells;
2. A building, vessel or floating house used for storage or manufacture of goods;
3. A house of entertainment or meeting place;
4. A building which is domain public of State, public place or place for performing religious ceremonies;
5. A railway station, airport, or public parking or mooring place for cars or vessel;
6. A steam-boat or motor-boat of five tons upwards, airplane or train used for public transportation, shall be punished with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment of five to twenty years.

Unless of course you're rich or have the right connections, then you can do whatever you want to and get away with it.

so let's get this right.

A supreme court judge, applies a sentence that is in accordance to the sentencing guidelines and you have a problem with it because other people may have gotten away with things because of corruption?

Should you not be applauding this? Surely every case where the law is applied to the letter should be lauded. Not vilified because of a lack of corruption.

[LostTourist]

Justice for the people to see a turd put behind bars for his crimes

[nikmar]

A life sentence truly deserved , I think.

Just to give a sense of balance though, whatever happened to the people who instigated the shut down of the airport.

I could be wrong and would hope to be corrected, but isn't that still going through the justice system despite being 4 years previous to the red shirt demonstrations.

[Artisi]

The sentence does seem a bit harsh, considering they were acting on the behest of others who of course will remain nameless, free, an more than ready to arrange the same again when ever they feel like it.

[phantomfiddler]

I think it is right that the people responsible are finally sentenced for their crimes, but I do think that similar enthusiasm should be applied to sentencing the children of influential people who have also committed serious crimes and appear so far to be unscathed. The redshirt criminals thought that they were above the law due to the fact that their leader was the prime minister, and the the rich hi-so criminals thought the same because of who daddy was

[oneday]

Once again this junta led government PROVES that reconciliation is definitely not part of their agenda as they promised back in May of 2014.

Anyone who sets fires should unquestionably be placed in jail, but not for life and certainly not given the death penalty as the original sentence was handed down, especially when nothing, but property was damaged. I doubt there are many countries in the world that give this kind of sentence for arson, aside from countries such as China or North Korea. This also proves beyond doubt who the courts work for.

[smedly]

Acquitted by the appeal court, but subsequently given a life sentence?

"Initially, an Appeal Court verdict gave Pichet the death sentence"

a bit stiff but the message is clear to those in the future that think burning down buildings is power for the course

[smedly]

Great. Good to see justice actually being done.

Life sentence for arson ? Or did people die in the arson ?

If you set fire to something, anyone inside dies. The fact nobody did is luck.

This was terrorism. The ringleader got the highest sentence.

Justice has been done. Now they just need to go after the people that instructed the guys in the provinces to burn down city halls.

a life sentence for arson doesn't sound like justice. But I guess since the accused were red shits, justice has been served right ?

Stil waiting when the sharp shooters are going to face justice...

which ones ? you mean the people armed and trying to kill police and security forces

[smedly]

a life sentence for arson doesn't sound like justice. But I guess since the accused were red shits, justice has been served right ?

Stil waiting when the sharp shooters are going to face justice...

It was part of a co-ordinated terror attack across the whole country.

Doesn't matter who it is - it is a very serious crime.

A terror attack in which the main victims were a few buildings. Oh I forgot about the coordinated terror attack on over 90 thais in the streets of bangkok of course. However the guilty party of that coordinated attack will never face justice of course.

Give me a break please. Life sentence for Arson is ridiculous.

playing with guns can be dangerous lol

[smedly]

This will probably piss-of most of the red skirts and end the so called "reconciliation"

not sure there are too many left, only the hard hitters and those well up the Thaksin payroll remain it seems

[smedly]

A life sentence truly deserved , I think.

Just to give a sense of balance though, whatever happened to the people who instigated the shut down of the airport.

I could be wrong and would hope to be corrected, but isn't that still going through the justice system despite being 4 years previous to the red shirt demonstrations.

ongoing, but as a matter of interest, if you were a judge handing out a sentence what would it be for a peaceful disruptive protest such as this one

[biplanebluey]

Whichever way you look at it we are told that he was INITIALLY aquitted then given a life sentence------- can you people not see how stupid a statement like that was

[smedly]

Once again this junta led government PROVES that reconciliation is definitely not part of their agenda as they promised back in May of 2014.

Anyone who sets fires should unquestionably be placed in jail, but not for life and certainly not given the death penalty as the original sentence was handed down, especially when nothing, but property was damaged. I doubt there are many countries in the world that give this kind of sentence for arson, aside from countries such as China or North Korea. This also proves beyond doubt who the courts work for.

ha there's that Thaksin buz word again - reconcilliation, it sits along side Amnesty peaceful and democratic, reconcilliation for who ? it was invented and intended for only one person, the weird thing about this country now is that the so called division with the people no longer exists, certain people talk about it and play it up because they need the imaginary division to exist in order to feed their agenda, what you have now is a handfull of well padded red leaders trying to justify themselves to the paymaster by trying to stir things up now and again but are quickly and rightly silenced by the government

[smedly]

Whichever way you look at it we are told that he was INITIALLY aquitted then given a life sentence------- can you people not see how stupid a statement like that was

I agree but none of us here know the details, I suspect the supreme court thought the same about the judge that handed out the original sentence - stupid - and overuled it

[nikmar]

A life sentence truly deserved , I think.

Just to give a sense of balance though, whatever happened to the people who instigated the shut down of the airport.

I could be wrong and would hope to be corrected, but isn't that still going through the justice system despite being 4 years previous to the red shirt demonstrations.

ongoing, but as a matter of interest, if you were a judge handing out a sentence what would it be for a peaceful disruptive protest such as this one

Thanks for replying, I was curious.

Im not a judge so hard to say what I would do, but, as you asked my opinion, I would say it would be necessary to make an example. They did shut down an airport, no small matter!

[FangFerang]

Great. Good to see justice actually being done.

If this is your idea of justice in this lop-sided elitist run situation than you are a devoted sycophant, and little else.

[scorecard]

Great. Good to see justice actually being done.

Life sentence for arson ? Or did people die in the arson ?

If you set fire to something, anyone inside dies. The fact nobody did is luck.

This was terrorism. The ringleader got the highest sentence.

Justice has been done. Now they just need to go after the people that instructed the guys in the provinces to burn down city halls.

a life sentence for arson doesn't sound like justice. But I guess since the accused were red shits, justice has been served right ?

Stil waiting when the sharp shooters are going to face justice...

Well here's a point to consider - did the arsonists conduct a serious check whether there were any people (possibly including women and children) in the building before they set it alight?

[pedro01]

Great. Good to see justice actually being done.

If this is your idea of justice in this lop-sided elitist run situation than you are a devoted sycophant, and little else.

I would have thought this verdict was the definition of justice.

A judge applying the sentencing guidelines according to the law of the land.

[Time Traveller]

Great. Good to see justice actually being done.

Not quite, justice would also include death penalty against the soldiers military generals who ordered and fired upon civillians and journalists who were murdered during the bangkok riots.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Time Traveller

[metisdead]

Off topic posts have been removed. This is not about arson cases in the US.

[billd766]

a life sentence for arson doesn't sound like justice. But I guess since the accused were red shits, justice has been served right ?

Stil waiting when the sharp shooters are going to face justice...

It was part of a co-ordinated terror attack across the whole country.

Doesn't matter who it is - it is a very serious crime.

A terror attack in which the main victims were a few buildings. Oh I forgot about the coordinated terror attack on over 90 thais in the streets of bangkok of course. However the guilty party of that coordinated attack will never face justice of course.

Give me a break please. Life sentence for Arson is ridiculous.

And how many of the over 90 Thais were in the military or did you just ignore or forget about them?

[kcirtapyelrah]

Acquitted by the appeal court, but subsequently given a life sentence?

"Initially, an Appeal Court verdict gave Pichet the death sentence"

Reading and comprehension is sometimes a real challenge:

"Chatchawan Srichanda, whose role in the arson attack was not detailed, also got life in prison. Previously, he was acquitted by the Appeal Court."

His role was not detailed yet he still got a life sentence. How transparent!

Perhaps the judge lost his temper and seen red.

[smedly]

a life sentence for arson doesn't sound like justice. But I guess since the accused were red shits, justice has been served right ?

Stil waiting when the sharp shooters are going to face justice...

It was part of a co-ordinated terror attack across the whole country.

Doesn't matter who it is - it is a very serious crime.

A terror attack in which the main victims were a few buildings. Oh I forgot about the coordinated terror attack on over 90 thais in the streets of bangkok of course. However the guilty party of that coordinated attack will never face justice of course.

Give me a break please. Life sentence for Arson is ridiculous.

And how many of the over 90 Thais were in the military or did you just ignore or forget about them?

It doesn't matter, if I had been attending those protests in 2010 peacefully and people in the protest camp were seen to be carrying assault rifles then it would have been time for me to leave, if I had remained then that choice armed or not would involve me as an accomplice and fully supporting what they were doing, these people responding to their leaders were instructed to burn buildings around the country and in Bangkok, anyone who from a stage was calling for this action should also be in jail