Thailand: Leading activist’s mother officially indicted for lèse majesté and released
Patnaree Chankij, 40, was arrested in May for replying to a Facebook message with the word 'ja'. Image via BBC on YouTube
THE mother of a prominent anti-junta activist has been released on a half a million baht bail, shortly after being indicted with the lèse majesté law by the Thai military prosecutor.
Patnaree Chankij, 40, was arrested in May for failing to reprimand a message allegedly defaming the royal family on Facebook.
The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said in a statementyesterday, translated by Prachatai, that the military prosecutor officially indicted Chankij, even though police have dropped the investigation into the case and refused to prosecute her further.
Chankij, whose son is anti-junta activist Sirawit Serithiwat, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted under Article 112 of the controversial lèse majesté law.
Her response to the incriminating Facebook message was ‘ja’, which authorities said was enough grounds for her to be accused of allegedly accepting or agreeing with the defamatory message and that she failed to report the person who wrote the message to them.
According to Human Rights Watch, ‘ja’ translates loosely to a non-committal, colloquial manner of saying ‘yes’.
Chankij’s arrest stirred outrage from other anti-junta activists and human rights advocates all over the globe, who called for the abolishment of the “outdated” law.
However, Thai Justice Minister Gen. Paiboon Koomchaya hit back at critics, saying other countries lacked the “civilization, sensitivity, and gentleness” to understand the lèse majesté law.
