2 replies to this topic

[Garcia]

"Police have applied for arrest warrants for an undisclosed number of red-shirt supporters for lese majeste remarks in their speeches at Sanam Luang two days ago, Metropolitan Police chief Lt-Gen Vorapong Chiewpreecha said on Thursday.

He said police evidence included photos and tape recordings of the speeches.He declined to identify the suspects or say how many would be charged. Pol Maj-Gen Amnuay Nimmano, the Metropolitan Police deputy chief, expected to the court to approve the warrants on Thusday afternoon."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/14...majeste-charges

[Gene]

This kind of witch hunt is making the palace look very bad and the prime minister, who says he wants to reform the system, look like a puppet with no power or independence.

[Hedda]

This kind of witch hunt is making the palace look very bad and the prime minister, who says he wants to reform the system, look like a puppet with no power or independence.

One thing is certain: it's hard to figure out just what good the authorities pushing these lese majeste charges think they are accomplishing for the cause they purport to be championing. In reality, they are doing a monumental disservice to the monarchy, by making the palace appear to be callously indifferent to the plight of the little people who find themselves being locked up without bail for exercising their right to speak.

These witch hunts ( and there's really no other way to view them) also make the courts look bad when judges feel pressured to hold people in jail without bail, something that's routinely granted in the most severe cases here. Political big wigs like Sondthi are never jailed without bail, nor do theuir cases ever seem to come to trial, while the little people like Dar Yorpedo rot in jail waiting for trial without bail. The courts look even worse when they hand down draconian sentences that would be considered cruel and unusual in most civilized places on the planet.

When the world sees a poor Thai man with a family of young kids sentenced to ten years in jail for posting one "insulting" item on the internet, it has to wonder how any leader who claims to love the people could possibly tolerate such inhumane treatment and punishment. No bail and no mercy make Thai justice like the Inquisition, not the search for equality under the law. The folks who seem to think that filing lese majeste charges to intimidate future conduct constitutes some righteous cause against enemies of the Thai state, would do well to consider the damage they are doing to both king and country. The monarchy needs no enemies with friends like that.