In theaters across Thailand, movies are always preceded by an on-screen anthem honoring King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the audience springs to their feet.
But activist Chotisak Onsoong says requiring the practice violates his freedom of choice, and he is willing to risk a 15-year jail term to make his point.
Police said on Friday they are pressing ahead with an investigation of Chotisak on a complaint of lese majeste — insulting the monarchy — for his failure to stand for the Royal Anthem in an incident last September that prompted an angry confrontation with fellow moviegoers.
The case is apparently the first deliberate challenge to the strict lese majeste law in a country where the 80-year-old king is almost universally revered as a selfless and hardworking benefactor of the people.
Chotisak and his girlfriend were summoned to hear the formal complaint against them this week, said Colonel Wallop Patummuang, the officer in charge of the case.
“We are now collecting evidence to see if there is enough to prosecute them,” Wallop said on Friday.
Chotisak said it should be a matter of free choice whether he sits or stands during the music, and his failure to stand up has nothing to do with disrespecting the king.
“Thai society tells everyone in the world that this is a democratic society,” he said. “I think everyone in Thailand should respect differences, the way of other people’s thinking.”
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, but has severe lese majeste laws, mandating a jail term of three to 15 years for “whoever defames, insults or threatens the king.”
Actual prosecutions are relatively rare.
The issue was highlighted last year when a Swiss man was given a 10-year prison sentence for defacing images of the revered monarch.
He was pardoned by the king after serving about a month behind bars.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS