20 months over bomb possession
The Criminal Court yesterday sentenced two red-shirt supporters to 20 months in prison for possessing home-made bombs during the riots last year.
Three red-shirt supporters, Veera Saipim, Chakrit Chomthong and Krairung Onkham, were charged with violating the emergency decree and possessing explosives last year.
Veera and Chakrit admitted to having ping-pong bombs on their person, but claimed that they had only participated in the red-shirt rally and were returning to their home town in Sakhon Nakhon province. They said the explosives were going to be used to chase away birds at their farms.
Krairung admitted to attending the rally with the other two but denied any knowledge of the bombs.
The court, however, said ping-pong bombs were not designed for farming purposes.
The court initially sentenced Veera and Chakrit to two years in prison each for the possession of bombs and another six months for violating the emergency rule. The sentence was then reduced since the two confessed.
Krairung was found guilty of violating the emergency rule and sentenced to six months in jail and fined Bt5,000. However, since this is her first offence, the court suspended the sentence for a year.
