Anon gets 4 years’ jail in Section 112 case, bail likely delayed

PROMINENT activist lawyer Anon Nampha was this morning (Sep. 26) given four years in jail and fined 20,000 baht for violating Section 112 of the Criminal Code, known as the lese majeste law, and the Emergency Decree over demonstrations in 2020 but bail request could take days to process, Thai Rath newspaper said.

Mr. Kritsadang Nutjarat, Anon’s lawyer and president of Lawyers for Human Rights Centre, told reporters that the Criminal Court had dismissed seven other charges against his client with the four-year imprisonment handed down being without parole.

While Anon’s relatives had prepared maximum 200,000 baht security for his bail, Kritsadang is concerned that the Court of First Instance could send the request to the Appeals Court to consider because of the four-year-long sentence.

This means it could take several days for the bail request to be considered and he would like the court to consider that the defendant is innocent until the final judgement has been passed.

The centre has been following up on bail requests by defendants in Section 112 cases and found that mostly when they submit their application at the Court of First Instance, which does have the right to grant it, this court usually sends it to the Appeals Court to consider.

This leads to the defendants being detained and losing rights and freedom despite the  President of the Supreme Court having stipulated the Court of First Instance can grant bail for sentences of less than five years’ imprisonment.

Kritsadang said he urged judges nationwide to follow this stipulation but feared that they would not apply it to lese majeste cases.

He has therefore today submitted a letter on this issue to the Director-General of the Criminal Court and the judge at this court considering Anon’s bail request.

“I request immediate consideration, without having to send the request to the Appeals Court so as to not violate the rights of all those who wish to fight their case,” he said.

CAPTIONS:

Top and Front Page: Well-known political activist and human rights lawyer Anon Nampha.

Insert: Anon’s lawyer  Kritsadang Nutjarat who is president of Lawyers for Human Rights Centre. All photos: Thai Rath

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