BANGKOK (AP) ― A prominent Thai activist and magazine editor was sentenced to a decade in prison Wednesday for defaming Thailand’s monarchy, a verdict rights groups condemned as the latest affront to freedom of expression in the Southeast Asian country.

Somyot Pruksakasemsuk was convicted of publishing two articles in an anti-establishment magazine that made negative references to the crown.

The verdict came despite repeated calls by rights groups to free Somyot, who has been jailed since 2011. It also underscored the harsh nature of Thailand’s lese majeste laws, which critics say have frequently been abused by politicians’ intent on silencing rivals.

The articles in question were published under a pseudonym in Somyot’s now-defunct Voice of Taksin magazine, which he launched in 2009 to compile political news and anti-establishment articles from writers and contributors.

Judges found both pieces contained content that defamed the royal family and argued that Somyot, as a veteran editor, knew that and chose to print them anyway. The court announced two five-year jail terms ― one for each story.

“(Somyot) should have better judgment than ordinary journalists. He must have understood that the articles contained lese majeste content, but chose to publish them anyway,” one of judges said in the sentence.

Somyot said he would appeal the verdict but would not seek a royal pardon.

Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said the ruling “appears to be more about Somyot’s strong support for amending the lese majeste law than about any harm incurred by the monarchy.”

Although the articles were published in 2010, Somyot was only arrested the following year _ five days after launching a petition drive to revoke Article 112 of the nation’s criminal code, which mandates three to 15 years in jail for “whoever defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the regent.”

Human Rights Watch said the author of the articles, who penned them under pseudonym, has never been charged with any crimes and is living in Cambodia.

The European Union also weighed in on the verdict, saying it “seriously undermines the right to freedom of expression and press freedom” and “affects Thailand’s image as a free and democratic society.”

More than 100 observers, including Thai and international scholars and journalists, diplomats and Somyot’s supporters, were in court to hear the verdict.

Somyot, who was brought in with his legs shackled, joked to a friend that he would no longer need books to read in prison because he thought he would be freed.

In addition to the 10-year punishment, Somyot was also sentenced to a one-year term in a separate criminal case in which he was charged for alleging a Thai general was behind the country’s 2006 army coup.

The coup ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and sparked years of sometimes violent political unrest from which the nation has yet to fully recover. Somyot was also a leader of the so-called Red Shirt movement, which supported Thaksin.

“His guilty verdict and sentence should be viewed as a sign that Thailand’s deep political schisms are far from healed,” Adams said. (AP)


<관련 한글 기사>


泰 기자 왕실모욕죄로 무려..  

태국의 언론인이 왕실모욕죄로 징역 11년 형을 선고받아 인권 논란이 일고 있다. 

유럽연합은 솜욧 프루엑삭아세묵(51)이 기고한 두 글과 관련하여 왕실모욕죄를 선고 받은 것에 대해 “매우 유감”이라고 밝혔다. 

국제사면위원회는 숌욧을 “양심수”로 규정하며 방콕 형사재판소의 판결이 “표현의 자유를 매우 침해하는 사건”이라고 강하게 비판했다. 

숌욧은 탁신 전 총리를 지지하는 “레드셔츠”의 일원이다. 솜욧의 변호인은 장기 징역형에 대해 항소를 할 예정이라고 밝혔다. 

 “솜욧은 112조항 (왕실모독죄)을 고의적으로 어기지 않았다고 확신합니다. 저널리스트로서의 본분을 다 했을 뿐입니다” 라고 솜욧의 변호사 카롬 폴폰클랑은 밝혔다. 

정치적 혼란을 겪고 있는 태국에서 왕실은 언급하기 예민한 주제이다. “왕실모독죄” 조항 아래 왕, 왕비와 왕세자 등 왕실 일원을 모독할 경우 최장 15년 구형에 처해질 수 있다. 

2010년 두 달에 걸쳐 여린 정권을 향한 레드셔츠의 대규모 길거리 시위는 왕실 사상 최대규모의 유혈 진압사태를 일으켰다. 90명이 죽고 수백명이 다친 바 있다. (코리아헤럴드)