Case

Case name

Prawate: a lawyer posted messages on facebook

Lèse-majesté Sedition

Name of persons / Name of Media

Prawate

Status of Accused

served penalty

Offense / order

Article 14 (3) Computer Related Crime Act, Article 112 Criminal Code, Article 116 Criminal Code

Summary

Prawate was a legal representation for at least 2 Lese Majeste defendants. Prawate also actively expressed his political view on his facebook account. He was arrested by the military on 29 April 2017 and the Criminal Court to remand him in custody without bail.

Prawate was accused to committed 10 counts under Lese majeste charge and 3 counts under sedition charge and Computer-related Crimes Act. He defend his case by denying all court's procedures and did not participate in the case. Later the court dismissed all lese majeste charges but punish him under Sedition for 3 counts, 5 months each and another one month for not providing fingerprint. He was detained in prison 16 months in total and relesed on 26 August 2018.

Basic information

Background of accused

As a lawyer, Prawate has represented clients accused of violating Article 112 (lese-majeste) in at least two cases, those of Da Torpedo and "Jakkrawut". He once took a credit company to court for loaning money to villagers at high interest rates in breach of the law. Prawate is also known for regularly sharing his political views on Facebook.

Legal Claims

Offence against security, Lèse-majesté, Sedition

Form of restriction on freedom

Charge filed
Type of media

Social Network
Province

Bangkok
Court

Criminal Court
Black case

คำอธิบายคดีดำ ภาษาอังกฤษ

Court: ศาลชั้นต้น No: อ.2368/2560 Date: 2017-07-21

Details of offence according to charge

According to the inquiry officer’s first provisional detention request, Prawate had posted on his personal Facebook account (but with privacy settings set to public) 10 statuses that criticized the monarchy in vulgar language. These statuses were as such a violation of Section 112 of Thailand’s Criminal Code and Section 14(3) of the Computer Crimes Act. In addition, certain messgaes written in a questioning or persuasive manner about changing the country’s governance system were said to be in violation of Section 116 of the Criminal Code and Section 14(3) Of the Computer Crimes Act.

Circumstance of arrest

According to a report from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, Prawate was arrested on the morning of 29 April 2017 by both uniformed and plainclothes members of the military and police, who did not show an arrest warrant. They confiscated his communication devices before detaining him to the 11th Military Circle. Prawate was not allowed to contact his family or lawyer, and his requests to contact a lawyer to have them take over ongoing case work were denied. Prawate only received access to a telephone on 30 April 2017 after a hunger strike.

Prawate was detained at the military camp until 3 May 2017, before being transferred to Criminal Court. Only at this point was he formally charged of violating Section 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code, and Section 14(3) of the Computer Crimes Act.

Progress of case

29 April 2017

During morning hours, Prawate was arrested in his home. He is not allowed to contact anybody.

30 April 2017

Prachatai reports that Kritsadang Nutcharus, a lawyer and friend of Prawate, received a call from Prawate while driving. Prawate told that he had been summoned by the NCPO and requested Kritsadang to take over his cases on 1 and 8 May 2017. When Kritsadang parked his car to call Prawate back and discuss the details of the cases, he could not get in contact.

3 May 2017

At approximately 2.30PM an inquiry officer of the Technology Crime Suppression Division, took Prawate to the Criminal Court in order to request the court’s permission to detain him.

Prawate is accused of ten counts of violating Section 112 of the Criminal Code and Section 14(3) of the Computer Crimes Act, for Facebook statuses that allegedly defamed the monarchy in impolite language. He is also accused of three counts of violating Section116 (Sedtition) of the Criminal Code and Section 14(3) of the Computer Crimes Act for Facebook statuses that either questioned or called for a change to Thailand’s system of governance.

At approximately 5.00PM the Court grants permission to detain Prawate. Nobody had come to bail him. Prawate was subsequently taken to the Bangkok Remand Prison where today. In the same day, there were five other individuals detained for allegedly defaming the monarchy. Just like Prawate, all five were arrested on the morning of 29 May 2017 before detained at a military camp.

11 June 2017

Kritsadang Nutcharus, Prawate’s lawyer, filed a motion against Prawate’s second provisional detention request. In the morning, a professor from Thammasat University’s Faculity of Law, a friend of Prawate, also arrives at the court to use his position as public service as a guarantee in a request to bail Prawate. The court sets bail at 680,000 baht.

At approximately 2.20PM, the court began examining defense lawyer’s appeal. Pol.Lt.Col. Sunpetch Noothong opposes the bail request on the grounds that the punishment for the accusations are heavy, which could motivate the defendant to flee if let free. Pol.Lt.Col. Sunpetch also expresses concerns that the defendant could interfere with evidences or commit further crimes, such as by posting further offending statuses.

Subsequently Prawate’s lawyer pointed out that Pol.Lt.Col. Sunpetch had not expressed any objections to bail when filing his second request for Prawate’s detaintion, raising them only in the courtroom. Pol.Lt.Col. Sunpetch replied that whenever investigators oppose bail, it is assumed that bail is opposed for the rest of the detaintion period.

Pol.Lt.Col. Sunpetch answered that the policy of the Royal Thai Police is to reject bail for suspects who face the penalty of ten or more years in prison. Moreover there remain another six witnesses to be interrogated in this case. For this reason, Pol.Lt.Col. Sunpetch had not expressed his opposition to bail during the second request for detainment.

At the conclusion of the investigation, Prawate asked the court for temporary bail, promising not to interfere with evidence, flee, or miss any court appointments. The judge remarked that the case file on provisional detention issue would be passed on to the court’s director-general to be determined. The judges who conducted this trial had the duty only to collect facts.

Ultimately the court allowed the request from the state inquiry officer to detain Prawate for a further 12 days. The court rejects Prawate’s bail request on the grounds that his alleged crimes, in not having feared the law, were heinous towards the monarchy and represented a potential threat to the Kingdom's security.

25 July 2017

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reported that the state prosecutor issued a prosecution order on Prawate's case. He was prosecuted with ten counts of violating Section 112 and three counts of violating Section 116, due to 13 offending Facebook statuses.

The Verdict

Trial observation record

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