Khon Kaen politician pleads guilty in forced stripping case
Veteran Khon Kaen politician Premsak Piayura and his secretary submitted guilty pleas with the Court of Appeals to the charges related to their roles in the alleged forced stripping of a Daily News reporter to his underwear in front of others during an interview session in 2016, the reporter’s lawyer Pakan Noppasr revealed on Monday.
This plea submission on June 24 led to the postponement of the Region 4 Court of Appeals’ reading of the verdict for Premsak and his secretary, Second Lt Buathong Lokhan, which had been slated for today (July 22), the lawyer said. It was possible that the politician’s admission of guilt was made in the hope to receiving a reduced sentence. Premsak and Buathong had earlier been handed two-month prison sentences without suspension on charges of obscenity to cause humiliation by the lower court on June 21, 2018, Prakan said.
The stripping of the male reporter took place on May 26, 2016 when the victim along with four other reporters from various agencies questioned Premsak, then Muang Ban Phai mayor, over photos on social media showing him with a schoolgirl and Bt400,000 in front of the pair. The photos had prompted public speculation that the career politician was engaged or married to the girl. In respond to the question, Premsak locked the male reporter along with fellow journalists to his office and ordered the reporter to strip down to his underpants. The lower court handed the two men two-month prison sentences and declined to suspend the jail term on grounds that they blatantly violated the laws when in fact they should have set good examples for others to follow.