A court in Bangkok on Friday sentenced younger brother and two other relatives of former royal consort to the Crown Prince to 11 years in jail, but since the defendants pleaded guilty, the jail term was halved.
Nattapong, Narong and Sittisak Suwadee were found guilty of falsely claiming about the crown prince to threaten a businessman into agreeing to reduce a debt. They were also found guilty of abduction, robbery, illegal possession of unauthorized weapons, and carrying weapons in public place. They were sentenced to five years in jail for the charges under Article 112 alone.
Nttapong is a younger brother of Srirasmi Suwadee, former Royal Consort of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn.
Four other defendants in the case denied all allegations. They will be tried in a separate case.
According to the charge, the defendants on 20 March 2014 abducted the victim from Sukhumvit road to a house in Bangkok’s Taweewattana District. The defendants allegedly claimed about the Crown Prince and forced the victim to negotiate about a debt.
In early March, parents of Srirasmi, Abhiruj Suwadee, 72, and Wantanee Suwadee, 66, were found guilty of offences under Article 112 or the lèse majesté law, for filing a false police complaint, and framing others, which led to a person serving a term in jail.
Close family members of Srirasmi, including her older sister, and brother-in-law, are now in jail on various charges, such as encroachment into protected areas, bribery, abduction, and lèse majesté, after the divorce of the disgraced former princess and her demotion to commoner.