LÈSE MAJESTÉ AND THE DEGRADATION OF THE RULE OF LAW Military dictatorships, by their very nature and illegal seizure of power, are not usually much interested in the law as it applies to them. However, military dictatorships will often make use of certain laws to maintain repression and oppression. In Thailand, since the military coup of May 2014, there has been yet another spike in the use of the draconian lèse majesté and computer crimes laws. These are convenient tools for the maintenance of repression and the silencing of critics. The use of these laws has spiked upwards to an alarming degree and been directed against those who are seen as enemies of the royalist state. The Democrat Party-led government of 2008 - 2011 rapidly expanded censorship, blocked tens of thousands of web pages it considered offensive to the monarchy and presided over hundreds of new charges and arrests. And all of this in the defence of some ill-defined notion of “national security”. The monarchy is defined as an issue of national security, not least by the military officers who seized power in May 2014. Amongst the plethora of convictions and continuing cases, two of the most egregious are those of Darunee Charnchoensilpakul and Somyos Prueksakasemsuk. In both cases, the law has been used in order to lock up and silence political opponents of the royalist regime. In each case, constitutional provisions were simply ignored by the courts. Somyos has recently been back in the courts. Denied bail at least 15 times, Somyos appealed his 23 January 2013 conviction and sentencing to 5 years on each of two lèse majesté charges. Within a short time, Somyos lodged an appeal, but on 19 September 2014, the Appeals Court upheld the Lower Court’s decision. Reports of the appeal outcome were carried in the Bangkok Post, Khaosod and Prachatai. The court reportedly rejected Somyos’ appeal, on the basis that “his new evidence could not override that of the prosecution”. This degradation of the rule of law through the bizarre legal machinations associated with these political laws has been noted by amongst others: i.) Amnesty International; and ii.) The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Lèse majesté has poisoned Thailand’s judiciary and undermined the rule of law - just as completely and effectively as do military coups.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 04:45:20 +0000
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