Chai Rachawat: Criticized against Prime Minister

29 April 2013

At the 7th Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies in Mongolia, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra delivered a speech stating that people are striving for democracy, and at the same time, many people are sacrificing their blood and lives in order to protect and build a democracy. She claimed that, in 1997, a new Constitution related to Participatory Democracy was created in Thailand, and consequently many people thought an era of coups d'etat had finally come to an end. Nevertheless, a rightfully elected government of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, her brother, was overthrown. The coup not only made her family suffer, but it also meant Thailand lost its international credibility. Moreover, she mentioned that the crackdown on the red-shirt movement caused many innocent victims shot dead by snipers, and the existence of the anti-democracy regime allowed some Thai senators to be appointed without an election.

30 April 2013

Chai Ratchawat posted a message on his personal facebook account "Please understand that prostitutes are not evil women because they just sell their bodies but an evil woman sells the nation” along with a picture of the Prime Minister.

2 May 2013

At 1:00pm, the Red-shirts led by Mrs. Ladawan Wongsriwong, former Minister of the Prime Minister's Office, rallied in front of Thairath head office and laid down a funeral wreath in order to protest this particular case. The Red-shirts demanded Thairath to take action against Chai

Ratchawat and also demanded the newspaper to refrain from making statements amounted to violation of journalistic ethics. Furthermore, the Red-shirts announced that if there was no apology from the cartoonist, they would reassemble again on May 7, 2013.

3 May 2013

Mr. Suranand Vejjajiva said that the Prime Minister was willing to listen to criticism, but critics should be careful by not using inappropriate words to insult female gender. He added that the legal counsel would consider every word and criticism. If they found that any personal defamation was made, they would consider whether they would take legal action.

In the same day, Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra, the Prime Minister, instructed her legal team to file a complaint to the police against Chai Ratchawat.

11 May 2013

At 3:00am, Pol Capt Ukrit Klaptao, an inquiry official at Bang Sue police station, was alerted that there was an attack at Vacharaphol Co.Ltd, the office of Thairath newspaper. Bombs and firecrackers were thrown at the front-gate security booth. The booth’s window glass was shattered while police found a fragment of a small green bomb and also found cherry-bomb fireworks under the counter. According to the investigation, a security guard who witnessed the incident said that at around 3:20pm there were four men on two motorcycles parked outside the gate of the Thairath’s office. Getting off the motorcycles, two of them headed to the security booth and shouted. Suddenly, they threw two iron petanque balls to break the glass then followed with the fireworks, which caused a big boom, then all the attackers immediately fled away. The motive of the incident remains ambiguous and there was no proof that it was related to the case of Chai Ratchawat. However, the incident happened during the feud, so many critics tried to link them.

21 May 2013

Metropolitan Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj-GenAnuchai Lekbamrung, the chief investigator of the case, said his team met and decided that the allegation against 

Somchai Katanyutanont or Chai Ratchawat was founded. Chai faced three counts: insulting a government official during an official event; defaming another person via the media; and violating the Computer-Related Crimes Act, which prohibits posting defamatory comments against others on the Internet. Police issued a summons for the cartoonist to give a statement at 10am on June 5.

June 4, 2013

Pol Col Sukhun Prommayon, deputy chief of Metropolitan Police division 1, revealed that the defendant’s lawyer made a requirement to postpone the interrogation for 30 days reasoning that preparation of documents as well as evidences for the lawsuit was needed.

23 June 2013

The defendant posted a message on his personal facebook account saying that on the day he had to appear to the police, he wished that there would be no accident or obstacle aimed at him. Recently, a high ranking police officer had threatened him through the media, saying if he failed to report himself to the police; an arrest warrant would be issued. The defendant said that over several decades he has been working as a cartoonist or he even used to live under eras of military dictatorship, and no one had ever threatened him both publicly and he did personally like it. Moreover, he insisted that he was ready to fight in this case.

24 June 2013

The defendant reported to Metropolitan Police Division 1 to testify himself and acknowledge charges filed by Norawich Lalaeng, Prime Minister’s lawyer, which are the charges of having defamed a government official while she was carrying her duty and having defamed a person via advertisement as well as violating the Computer Crime Act at Dusit police station.