- Important case
Tom Dundee: Make Lèse majesté Speeches, the first case
Defendant
Case Status
Case Started
Complainant / Plaintiff
Table of Content
"Tom Dundee" or Thanat is a former artist and actor. He joined Redshirt political rallies.
After the coup in May 2014, Thanat was arrested for two times. The first time is in case of defying NCPO summons on 9 June 2014 but the court granted his provisional release. However, one month later, Thanat was again arrested at his home on 9 July 2014 with lèse majesté charges.
Throught the trial, Thanat had never been released on bail. Initially, he insisted that he will fight the case. On 19 October 2015, Thanat was informed another Lese Majeste charge at the Criminal Court.
On 30 May 2016, the Criminal Court scheduled Thanat to present at the court for the preparation examination. Thanat however change his plea from no guilty to guilty. He was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison.
On 21 June 2016, the Military Court scheduled for the witness examination, Thanat change his plea from no guilty to guilty. The Military Court ordered to sentence Thanat to 3 years and 4 months in prison on 11 July 2016. The court also ordered that sentence of this case will be count only after Thanat completed his prison sentence in a previous Lese majeste case. Overall, Thanat will be sentence to 10 years and 10 months in prison.
Defendant Background
Offense
Allegation
From 6 November 2013 to 26 June 2014, Thanat and unknow adividual who is the owner of facebook account "V Prang" commited an offense against Article 112 of the Criminal Code.
On 6 November, Thanat and "V Prang" co-organizing a program under a name "Red Guard Radio" which was a program that broadcased public speech. Thanat was a person who gave a speech while "V Prang" was responsible for recording and uploading a clip on youtube website. Parts of content in the video clip were considered to be Lese Majeste offense.
Circumstance of Arrest
Trial Observation
Black Case
Court
Additional Info
Reference
8 June 2014
Around 9.00 pm, the NCPO order no. 53/2014 was broadcasted nationwide via television and radio stations summoning individuals including Thanat to report to the NCPO at the Royal Thai Army Club, Thevet, on 9 June 2014 from 10.00 am to12.00 pm.
9 June 2014
Thanat’s wife called a high-ranking military officer that Thanat will report himself in the evening of this day because he just knew that he was summoned.
At around 3.00 pm, while Thanat was driving back from a forest, military officials and polices arrested him because they afriad that Thanat might flee.
12 June 2014
Lt. Col. Burin Thongprapai, the judge advocate along with military officials brought Thanat to the Crime Suppression Division (CSD). Thanat was held in custody for two nights.
14 June 2014
Around 11.00 am, Thanat was taken from CSD to the Bangkok Military Court to request for pre-trial detention order.
A lawyer from Free Thai Legal Aid (FTLA) submitted the provisional release petition with 20,000 baht as a deposit, the court later released him on bail.
9 July 2014
TCSD officers along with 20 military personals arrested Thanat at his house in Tha Yang district, Phetchaburi province under Article 112 of the Criminal Code (lese majeste) and Section 14 of the Computer-related Crimes Act.
Thairath online reported that Pol. Gen. Somyot Pumpanmuang and Pol. Maj. Gen. Siripong Timula, commander of the TCSD held the press conference regarding the arrest of Thanat with the arrest warrant of the criminal court and the Bangkok Military Court under lese majeste charges.
The officials said that the arrest was due to two video clips of Thanat's speeches that were publicized on Youtube website.
The first video clip, Thanat gave a speech at the rally hosted by Red guard Radio on 6 November 2013.
The second video clip, Thanat gave a speech on 13 November 2013 at the Lak Si Monument in Bangkok.
10 July 2014
Kom Chad Luek online reported that the officials from the TCSD brought Thanat to the Bangkok Military Court to request for pre-trial detention order under the Lese Majeste charges.and the offense against the Computer-related Crime Act.
Thanat's lawyer said that today Thanat will not request for temporary release because he still waiting for a deposit. Moreover, there was a legal problem concerning jurisdiction of the Military Court as his alledged offense occured before the NCPO authorized the Jurisdiction of the Military Court to try civilian. Thanat was later transfered to remand at the Bangkok Remand Prison.
14 November 2014
Deposition Examination
At 9.00 am, the Bangkok Military Court scheduled to examine the deposition of Thanat. Thanat asked the court to postpone the deposition examination because he just got the compliant of the case in the morning. The court set the new schedule on 7 January 2015.
8 December 2014
Thanat wrote a letter regarding the human right violation in his case to Dr.Nirand Pitakwatchara, a commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission.
In the letter, he said that the trial in the military court was not independent. There was no guarantee that the defendant will be try openly.
The defendants Rights and Liberties were also at risk such as they might be arrest without warrant, held in custody over the period recognized by law as well as their to be release during the trial would be denied.
Thanat also said that pre-trial detention made him lost his income around 300,000-400,000 Baht a month. His family was currently in debt.
18 March 2015
The Examination of Evidence
The Bangkok Military Court set to proceeded with the examination of evidences at 8.30am. However, Thanat asked the court for a postponement. The court set the new schedule on 18 May 2015.
18 May 2015
Evidence Examination
The Bangkok Military Court set the schedule for evidence examination at 8.30 am. However, the defendant was brought to the court at around 10.15 am. The defendant refused all the allegation so the court set the schedule for witness hearing for the prosecution on 4 August 2015.
The defendant lawyer said that in this case, he will fight against Computer Crimes Act charges because Thanat did not upload the alleged video clips on Youtube. If the defendant can prove himself innocent – the defendant just made speeches – this case must be tried in the criminal court because the offence occurred before the 2014 coup.
The Military Court set to hand down a verdict and ordered to try the case behind the closed door. Observers were not allowed in the court room.