Jatuporn gets suspended jail term for defaming Abhisit
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The Criminal Court Tuesday found red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan guilty of libel and handed down a six-month jail term suspended for two years due to first offence.
In its decision, the court reprimanded Jatuporn for making malicious remarks against Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva in order to incite hatre.
Reacting to his guilty verdict, Jatuporn said he respected the judicial decision although he would seek to overturn it through the appellate review.
The case came to light in 2009 after Jatuporn gave a press interview portraying the then prime minister Abhisit for inappropriate conduct during an audience with the King.
“Abhisit was disrespectful to the King by deviating from the usual protocals required in a royal audience because he acted like an equal of His Majesty and sat on a chair, an act no past prime ministers had done,” Jatuporn said in his interview.
Abhisit subsequently sued that such remarks had tarnished his reputation.
The court ruled that Jatuporn had no justification to criticise Abhisit before verifying facts and circumstances in connection with the royal audience and that the defence argument for ignorance on royal protocals was unconvincing since the defendant was a Pheu Thai MP.
The Nation
