The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request for bail by imprisoned former actress and model Chatchaya Cuesta Ramos, better known as Yuyee, who is serving a 15-year sentence for smuggling cocaine into the country.
Yuyee, 43, also formerly known as Alisa Inthusamit, was taken from prison to the Criminal Court to hear the Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday morning.
Former actress-model Yuyee (File photo)
She was arrested on Nov 10, 2012 at Don Mueang airport after customs officers found a very small amount of cocaine in her bag. She had arrived on a flight from Vietnam.
She was charged with the illegal possession and smuggling of 251 milligrammes of a Type 2 narcotic drug into the country.
On June 12, 2014, the Criminal Court convicted and sentenced her to 15 years in jail and fined her 1.5 million baht. Initially, she was sentenced to a jail term of 20 years and a fine of 2 million baht. The term was reduced by one-fourth to 15 years and a fine of 1.5 million baht.
A prison term of three months earlier handed down in a separate case by the Min Buri Court, which convicted her of smuggling protected wildlife into the country, was added to the sentence.
In September, 2015, the Appeal Court upheld the lower court’s ruling.
Both courts rejected the former actress's requests for release on bail, deeming her a flight risk. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court also denied her release on bail.
She was taken back to the Central Women Correctional Institute in Bangkok’s Bang Khen district. So far, she has spent 2 years and nine months in jail.
Yuyee and her husband Francisco Ramos, a Spanish TV presenter for Discovery Channel, have always claimed she was framed by an influential person they had angered by setting free animals held by wildlife traffickers.