Akaradej (last name withheld due to privacy concerns) on Tuesday pleaded guilty before the Court to posting comments deemed lèse majesté on Facebook. In another case, a former Pheu Thai MP accused of defaming the monarchy during a red-shirt TV programme, pleaded not guilty and witness hearings were scheduled.
The Court will read the verdict on the Akaradej case on 4 November.
Akaradej is an undergraduate student from Mahanakorn University of Technology. He was accused of posting messages deemed lèse majesté on Facebook in early 2014. It was his Facebook “friend” who reported the case to Sutthisan Police Station. Police arrested him at his house in June 2014. The Court denied his bail request. He has been detained in Bangkok Remand Prison.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Sgt Prasit Chaisrisa, a former Pheu Thai MP, pleaded not guilty and the court scheduled the prosecution witness hearings on 20, 24, 25 February 2015 and defence witness hearings on 26 and 27 February 2015.
Prasit was accused of defaming the King during a TV programme called “Stop Overthrowing Democracy,” broadcast on a red-shirt satellite TV channel on 7 May 2014. A staff member of the military Judge Advocate General’s Office filed a police complaint against him. He is detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison. The court has denied his request for bail.
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