Supreme Court rules UDD chairman defamed Abhisit

In July 2012 the Criminal Court sentenced Jatuporn to six months in jail and fined him Bt50,000, with the sentence commuted to a two-year suspended jail term on the grounds that he had never served time.

Jatuporn appealed the ruling to the Court of Appeals, which ruled in August 2013 that he did not intend to defame Abhisit.

Abhisit appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled that Jatuporn had made an unjustified remark.

The court upheld the Criminal Court’s ruling to sentence Jatuporn to a six-month jail term, suspended for two years, fine him Bt50,000 and publish the verdict in the Matichon newspaper for seven consecutive days.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by the lower court to drop a libel suit filed by ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra against People’s Alliance for Democracy leader Sondhi Limthongkul.

The suit said Sondhi spoke at a PAD rally at Government House in October 2008 and linked Thaksin to lese majeste allegations through the ASTV satellite channel and the Manager website.

In dropping the suit, the Criminal Court reasoned that Sondhi had spoke with honest intentions as a member of the media.

Thaksin had appealed against that ruling. But the Court of Appeals ruled that Sondhi made the remark for the sake of justice and the country since Thaksin was a public figure who must be made accountable.

Sondhi testified that Thaksin was closely connected with people who had been the subject of lese majeste actions, such as lawyer Robert Amsterdam.