MILESTONES

LIFTED: By the Administrative Court, a ban on the gay-themed film Insects in the

Backyard. The judge also ordered the National Film Board to pay 10,000 baht in restitution to filmmaker Tanwarin Sukkhapisit for the ban. The Culture Ministry, of course, judged the movie immoral and pornographic.

ACQUIRED: By Phra Anil Sakya, the Nepalese assistant secretary to the late Supreme Patriarch, Thai nationality. Known as Phra Sakayawong Wisut, he is deputy abbot of Wat Bowon Niwet and has headed preparations for next week’s funeral procession. He entered Thailand as a novice monk and was ordained as a Bhikku in 1980.

SENTENCED: To 25 years in prison, the Cambodian quack Yem Chrin, 56, of Battambang province. In treating villagers, he used unsterilised needles and infected more than 100 with HIV — of whom at least 10 have died. He was convicted of spreading HIV intentionally, rather than murder.

SENTENCED: By the Criminal Court to two years in prison for leading a corrupt thod krathin

luang robe-giving ceremony in Nan, controversial Jaruvan Maintaka. She claimed more than 200,000 baht for a ministry workshop, but the former auditor-general and self-described graft buster used it for a religious ceremony. She is appealing, although only in the legal sense.

AWARDED: The 2015 Kate Webb Prize for risky and in-depth reporting of the lese majeste and similar legal cases, Prachatai’s Mutita Chuachang. The prestigious award was for “balanced, in-depth coverage of sensitive topics”, which is about as much as one can say about censored cases. Mutita said imprisoned people “have had their basic rights breached” by a judiciary which has become “part of the so-called ‘justice deficit’ problem”.