Court denies giving death penalty to red-shirt arsonists

The Supreme Court has clarified it did not hand down the death penalty to any of the 13 red-shirt defendants who burned down Ubon Ratchathani’s provincial hall in 2010, as reported by the media.

On Wednesday, reports circulated quoting the key defendant’s lawyer saying that his client, Pichet Thabutda, had been given the death penalty by the Supreme Court, but the sentence had then been commuted to life in prison.

Suebpong Sripongkul, spokesman of the Courts of Justice, said in a statement on Thursday evening the Supreme Court overturned the Region 3 Appeal Court’s rulings for nine of the defendants in the case. Pichet, the first defendant, and Chatchawarn Srichanda, were sentenced to life in prison, he said.

Ornanong Bunpachart, Pattama Moonmin, Likit Suthiphan, Teeraway Sujjasuwan, Sanong Katesuwan and Somsak Prasarnsap each received 33 years and four months in jail. Somchit Suthiphan was given a oneyear jail term.

“None of the sentences handed down by the Ubon Ratchathani Provincial Court, the Region 3 Appeal Court or the Supreme Court was the death penalty,” said Mr Suebpong.

Wattana Chantasilp, Pichet’s lawyer, told Manager Online on Thursday night that he had mistakenly given the wrong information to the media. He apologised for the mistake and said he would submit a written apology to the court.