Bangkok - An elderly Thai man was jailed by a military court Friday for scrawling graffiti in a shopping mall toilet critical of the country's junta leaders and its revered king.
Thailand's monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, is protected by one of the world's toughest royal defamation rules under which anyone convicted of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
Ophas Chansuksei, a 67-year-old pin-badge vendor, received a year and a half sentence for writing anti-monarchy and anti-government messages in an eastern Bangkok mall last October.
The judge described the comments as "false" and said they "lowered the value of the king". His sentence was cut from three years because he pleaded guilty, the judge added.
An AFP reporter inside the military court said Ophas, grey-haired and dressed in rose coloured prison clothes, remained impassive as the sentence was read out.
But his wife struggled to hold back her tears.
Speaking after sentencing, Ophas said he was relieved that the sentence had been reduced for his guilty plea.
"Soldiers told me when I was detained that if I didn't like someone I should keep it in my heart. I shouldn't have done it," he told AFP.
AFP
