Tom Dundee gets seven plus years for lese majeste
THE CRIMINAL Court yesterday jailed a country singer and political activist to seven and a half years in jail on grounds of insulting the monarchy in a public speech made three years ago.
Thanat Thanawatcharanon, known by his stage name Tom Dundee, gave waiting media the thumbs-up as he arrived at court yesterday, wearing an orange prison uniform.
“The sentence is much longer than we expected,” his lawyer Saovalux Po-Ngam said.
“We can lodge an appeal within a month but have to discuss first whether we will. In my personal view, the sentences are too long.”
Thanat, who has been in prison since his arrest in 2014, had previously denied the charges but confessed in a sudden about-face in court on Monday.
Confessing to a lese majeste crime is routine practice in Thailand, where the accused often plead guilty in hopes of a more lenient sentence.
Prosecutors said Thanat made defamatory comments against the monarchy during a 2013 speech to “red shirt” activists at apolitical rally in Bangkok.
He was arrested and charged in July 2014, following pressure by an ultra royalist group on Department of Special Investigation to prosecute Thanat.
