‘DA TORPEDO’ FREED UNDER ROYAL PARDON
Three lese majeste prisoners including “Da Torpedo” have been granted a royal pardon and released from the Central Women’s Correctional Institution in Bangkok.
They were included in a royal pardon under which 100 female prisoners were released, said Weeranan Huadsri of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul, better known as Da Torpedo for her straightforward style of speaking, was sentenced to 15 years for insulting the monarchy.
Pornthip “Golf” Munkong was sentenced to five years for directing a stage play with lese majeste content at Thammasat University three years ago. The penalty was halved because she confessed.
Thitinan Kaewjantranont was jailed for one year for insulting a portrait of His Majesty the King.
Conflicts began to deepen in society after the 2006 coup, with dissenters holding public events to air their discontent with the coup and how the country was being run.
Ms Daranee was accused of defaming the monarchy during a speech on a redshirt stage at Sanam Luang in June 2008.
Sondhi Limthongkul, an ultra-royalist media firebrand, quoted what Ms Daranee had said at one of his own talks and the army filed the complaint against her the next day.
The Criminal Court in 2011 sentenced Ms Daranee to 15 years for three counts and the Appeal Court upheld the sentence in June 2013. Ms Daranee did not appeal by the deadline on Sept 9 of the same year, so the case was closed. She was not granted bail throughout her trial. Mr Sondhi was also charged with lese majeste for quoting her as the law forbids such acts.
He was found not guilty by the Criminal Court, which ruled he did so only to urge authorities to take action against Ms Daranee. The Appeal Court reversed the decision and sentenced him to two years in jail, viewing he did not need to quote the content and his carelessness had caused damage to the institution. He was granted bail.
Ms Pornthip was charged with lese majeste after she directed The Wolf Bride play in October 2013 at Thammasat University to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Oct 14, 1973, uprising.
The private Royal Monarch Alert Protection Network filed a complaint against Ms Pornthip and one of the actors. After a crackdown on lese majeste offenders following the 2014 coup, Ms Pornthip was arrested at Hat Yai airport in Songkhla province on Aug 15 that year.
She confessed to the crime and was sentenced on Feb 28, 2015, to five years in jail, commuted by half because she confessed.
In the third case, Ms Thitinan, who was said to suffer from mental illness, committed an offensive act against a portrait of the King when 400 people were gathering to show support for the Constitutional Court on July 13, 2012. The court was deciding whether the Yingluck Shinawatra government’s move to amend the now-defunct 2007 constitution was an act aimed at toppling the constitutional monarchy.
Police feared she would be hurt by members of the crowd, some of whom filed lese majeste complaints.
She confessed to the crime. The Criminal Court in May 2014 sentenced her to two years in jail, halved because she confessed, suspended for three years. A year later, the Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s ruling but did not allow the suspension, saying her behaviour warranted jail time.
Each charge of lese majeste carries a penalty of up to 15 years in jail.