Thailand: NHRC to study lese majeste clause

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sub-committee on civil and political rights says it will begin a study on whether the content and current use of the Criminal Code’s lese majeste clause, Article 112, is constitutional.

NHRC sub-committee chairman Niran Pitakwatchara said that the controversial use of the lese majeste law was urgently called into question, since it could be a condition leading to violence in society.

The NHRC sub-committee held its first hearing on the problem of the application of the lese majeste law last week with some 60 participants, including those being imprisoned, harassed and implicated as a result of people citing Article 112.

Dr Niran said after the four-hour-long session that the sub-committee was hopeful that in the next few months its research into the subject would be completed and a report forwarded to the government and the public for consideration.

He said the sub-committee, which included well-known human rights activists Somchai Homla-or, Jon Ungphakorn, Boonthan T. Verawongse, and Sunai Phasuk, would examine human rights abuses in the cases of Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a trade unionist and a red-shirt editor of the Voice of Thaksin, and Somsak Jeamteerasakul, a senior historian at Thammasat University.

While the sub-committee recognised that there were other previous cases, the Somyot and Somsak cases would be a study platform.

It would not be just an academic exercise but a means to protect the rights of the people and provide some solution in the event there was injustice in applying the lese majeste clause, Dr Niran said.

"Dealing with the issue has never been an easy matter and I could not pledge how much we can do to resolve the problem as we are also surmounting internal self-adjustment difficulties within the (NHRC) office," said the chairman of the sub-committee on civil and political rights.

The hearing heard from a number of victims who have been affected in their life and work because of the surrounding procedures and environment when they were accused of lese majeste.

Dr Niran said he had talked to the prison commander who confirmed that Mr Somyot had been so stressed out that he thought of committing suicide.

Mr Somyot, Dr Niran said, would like to get bail but has been denied temporary release to prepare his defence against the charge.

Sulak Sivaraksa, an outspoken critic who has been charged a few times in past decades with lese majeste, said there needed to be a space to seriously and sincerely discuss the constitutional monarchy.

The Privy Council and the NHRC should have the intellectual courage to lead the discussion about the role of the monarchy in a democratic system.

"Allowing Article 112 to be carelessly and prevalently used is actually direct sabotage of the revered institution of the monarchy," Mr Sulak told the hearing.

Somsak Jeamteerasakul said human rights advocates should educate the public that talking about the monarchy should not be considered lese majeste, "but sadly Thai society has reached the point where referring to the subject and veering from the official version has become unacceptable".

Date: 23 May 2011

Source: Bankgok Post