Leader of Thai Liberal Party announces support for amendment to lese majeste law
Sereepisuth Temeeyaves, leader of the Thai Liberal Party, announced on Monday that he fully supported calls for amendments to the lese majeste law, adding that the issues of “defamation” and “insult” should be removed from this law.
According to the Criminal Code’s Article 112, anybody who “defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years”.
Sereepisuth said there is no need for a separate law that covers defamation of the monarchy, when there is already Article 326, which says “whoever, imputes anything to the other person before a third person in a manner likely to impair the reputation of such other person or to expose such other person to hate or scorn, is said to commit defamation, and shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding one year or fined not exceeding Bt20,000 or both”.
However, he said, the matter of “threat” to the monarchy can remain in Article 112.
