Thai radio host Kathawut Boonpitak will remain jailed on a five-year sentence for allegedly insulting the country's monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Tuesday's sentencing was one of the first verdicts by a military court involving the country's lese majeste law, which punishes people who defame, insult, or
threaten the monarchy, The Associated Press reported.
The comments in question aired from overseas in March on Kathawut's website, according to the AP. The law provides jail terms of up to 15 years, but Kathawut confessed, which resulted in a lower sentence of five years.
Kathawut has been in the custody of military police since June, when he returned to Thailand from overseas to attend the
funeral of a relative, The Bangkok Post reported. He was denied bail and has no right to appeal.
Most defamation cases have been handled by civilian courts, which typically give lesser sentences of three to five years, the Post said.
Also on Tuesday, the military court approved 12 days of detention Jaruwan Lampong, a woman accused of making a defamatory post on a Facebook. She claimed her account had been hacked.
The junta has been cracking down on defamation since seizing control on May 22. The political conflict has pitted middle class and elite residents from Bangkok against rural working-class residents loyal to fugitive former premier
Thaksin Shinawatra, Agence France-Presse said.
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