This Man Has Been Sentenced To 35 Years In Prison For A 'Crime' He Committed On Facebook
He was initially sentenced to 70 years in prison.
By Sadho Ram — 11 Jun 2017, 02:54 PM
This is Vichai Thepwong
A 34-year-old who worked as an insurance salesman.
On Friday, 9 June, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for a 'crime' the 34-year-old man committed on Facebook
He insulted the monarchy in Thailand.
While Vichai was initially sentenced to 70 years, his jail term was halved after he pleaded guilty to ten separate violations of Thailand’s strict lese majeste law.
Lese majeste is the royal defamation law, which the military government has been using with alarming frequency since it seized power in a coup three years back.
Vichai's conviction is the harshest sentence yet in Thailand, beating a 30-year sentence handed down to another man back in in 2015.
While Vichai, who has been in prison since his arrest in 2015, will not appeal against the verdict and wants to petition for a royal pardon, people arrested under the broadly interpreted law are rarely acquitted or granted bail
Reacting to the verdict, the UN's human rights office said it was "appalled" by the sentencing and decried the increasing number of lese majeste cases under junta rule.
