The military and criminal court for the first time has disagreed whether which court should have the jurisdiction to try a lese majeste suspect.
The Criminal Court on Ratchada Rd., Bangkok, on Tuesday, 22 September 2015, ruled that it has the jurisdiction over the case of Sirapop (surname witheld due to privacy concerns), a 52-years-old suspect of offenses under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, lese majeste law.
The ruling was delivered after the defendant submitted a request to the criminal court under Article 10 of the 1999 Court Jurisdiction Act to ask whether he should be tried by the civilian instead of the military court. The criminal’s court statement, however, contradicts with the verdict of the military court, which earlier ruled that it has jurisdiction over the case.
In brief, Article 10 of the Court Jurisdiction Act stipulates that if the accused have doubts whether which court should have the jurisdiction over the case, the suspect can submit a request before trial to the court of justice or military court to rule over the jurisdiction on the case. If rulings from different courts over jurisdiction the case vary, the court jurisdiction committee shall finalise as to which court should handle the case.
The court jurisdiction committee will finalise whether Sirapop shall be tried by the military or civilian court.
Sirapop was indicted by the military prosecutors for offences under Article 112 of the Criminal Code and Article 14 of the Computer Crime Act (importing illegal content into a computer system) for composing and posting lese majeste poems on his personal blog and Facebook page under the pen name ‘Rung Sila.’
Besides the lese majeste charge, he has also been indicted for defying Order No. 41/2014 of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) for not reporting to the military in June. Sirapop was arrested on 25 June 2014 in northeastern Kalasin Province, while he was fleeing to a neighbouring country. After being detained for seven days, he was accused of posting messages deemed lese majeste on the Internet. He has since been detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison. The military court repeatedly denied him bail, citing flight risk and severity of the charge.
Anon Nampa, the lawyer representing Sirapop, last year submitted a petition urging the military court to consult the Constitutional Court for a ruling on whether the junta’s order No. 37/2014 to transfer jurisdiction over lese majeste cases to the military courts and the fact that defendants cannot appeal breaches Article 4 of the 2014 Interim Charter.
The lawyer also reasoned that the alleged lese majeste crime of the suspect was committed before the coup d’état, therefore the case should go to the civilian court. However, the military court dismissed the claim, stating that the suspect imported lese majeste contents into the computer system which persist after the 2014 coup.
“Now, the decision is not yet finalised, [we] have to wait for the [court jurisdiction] committee to finalise it. If the committee decides that the case shall be handled by the criminal court, then the military court has to send the case file to the criminal court to proceed, which would allow the defendant to fight the case up to the supreme court,” said Anon.
During the first trial in January 2015, Sirapop told Prachatai “I’m still determined to fight for my principles for I believe that I’ve done nothing wrong and apparently according to the law I’m still innocent even though [lese majeste] suspects like us are usually discriminated against.”
The defendant who is a father of three with his youngest child still in high-school could face up to 45 years imprisonment if he is found guilty.
Since the 2014 coup d’état, most lese majeste suspects have been tried by the military which does not allow appeal and tend to try most cases in camera. Most importantly, the military courts have given average prison jail terms of 9.5 years to lese majeste convicts, while the civilian courts gave 4.5 years.
On 7 August 2015, the Bangkok Military Court broke the record by sentencing Pongsak S. to 60 years imprisonment for offences under Article 112 and Article 14 of the Computer Crime Act (importing illegal content into a computer system).
The court gave a 10-year prison term for each of six lese majeste counts. Since the suspect pleaded guilty as charged, the court halved the sentence to 30 years in jail.
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