By CS Thana
BANGKOK (AA) – A military court on Monday extended a Thai country singer’s seven year prison sentence by five years after he was found guilty of violating the country’s harsh lese majeste laws.
Thanat Thanawatcharanont, better known by his alias Tom Dundee, was found guilty of breaching section 112 of the Thai criminal code — committing lese majeste — in a speech he made in 2013, according to Voice TV news station.
The additional sentence was commuted to three years and four months after Thanawatcharanont confessed to his crimes.
He was previously sentenced to seven years for posts he made online which allegedly insulted the monarchy.
Dundee is a well known country singer in Thailand with close ties to the Peu Thai party (For Thais Party) government that was ousted in a military coup in 2014.
Peu Thai was the third incarnation of a party originally founded by the junta’s charismatic nemesis, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Section 112 of the Thai criminal code punishes with jail terms between 3-15 years persons who “insult, defame or threaten the king, the queen, the heir, or the regent”.
In the last ten years, judges have tended to interpret the law broadly.
A man criticizing a 19th century king has been jailed, as has another who mocked on Facebook a dog belonging to the current King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Since the 2014 coup, military courts have charged 57 people with lese-majeste, with 44 charged for online commentary.
