The military court rejected bail for a redshirt radio host in closed door trial.
On Tuesday, the military court denied 800,000 baht bail to Kathawut B., a redshirt radio host charged with lèse majesté, due to the severity of the charge and the flight risk because the charge relates to the revered Thai monarchy, which equates to national security, according to iLaw.
On Monday the Military Court tried Kathawut and another suspect who asked not to be identified in camera despite objections from the defendants and the presence of representatives from the European Union (EU) and the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR), who came to observe the trial.
The military court judge said “This case is under the consideration of the court and the punishment could be a prison term of more than ten years. Therefore, the court had to ask staff of the Judge Advocate General’s Office and they objected to bail on the grounds that the case is related the revered monarchy and national security. There is the risk of flight because of the heavy penalties,” reported iLaw.
This is the sixth time that the military court denied Kathawut’s bail request.
Kathawut is a radio host whose programmes allegedly contained lèse majesté comments. He was summoned by the military to report according to Order 44/2557 of the coup-maker’s National Council for Peace and Order and detained for seven days before being charged with lèse majesté.
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