BANGKOK, Nov 4 — Thailand’s Criminal Court sentenced a student to five years prison for a Facebook post that has violated the country’s lèse majesté laws.
As the student admitted to his act, the court reduced his sentence to 2 years and 6 months of jail time.
The defendant, 24-year old student Akaradech Iamsuwan, was accused of violating Article 112, the lèse majesté, as well as Articles 3 and 14 of the Computer Act 2007. The persecutor said the defendant used an alias to post on Facebook with rude comments about the royal family.
The court found the defendant guilty of lèse majesté, under the terms of which the suspect is subject to a 5-year jail term.
Since the defendant confessed to committing the act, the court reconsidered his sentence and reduced it by half to only 2 years and 6 months of jail time.
The accused has been in police custody since June 18 when officers from Sutthisarn Police Station arrested him at his home in Nong Jok district, before he was delivered to Bangkok Remand Prison custody.
In the meantime, the suspect’s family tried to provide Bt150,000-200,000 as bail, but it was rejected by the court.
