The Phra Khanong provincial court on Friday sentenced three brothers of former princess Thanpuying Srirasm Suwadee to five years and six months in jail each, without suspension, for illegal detention, theft and lese majeste.
Members of a criminal network allegedly run by Pol Lt Gen Pongpat Chayapan, the former Central Investigation Bureau chief, Natthapol Suwadee, 29, Narong Suwadee, 41, and Sitthisak Suwadee, 24, were initially given 11-year terms, but their sentences were halved because they confessed.
Prison wardens took them to the court to hear the ruling on Friday.
According to the suit filed by public prosecutors, the three defendants were charged with lese majeste, forcibly detaining others, theft and illegal possession of firearms.
The court ruled the defendants had forcibly taken a debtor at gunpoint from his house on Soi Sukhumvit 101 to their residence in Bangkok's Thawi Wattana district in March 2014 and cited the monarchy to force him to pay off the debts. They had illegally detained the debtor and had stolen his assets.
The prosecutors initially filed the suit against seven defendants in the case, but the four others — Sutthisak Sutthijit, Chakarn Pakphum, Witthaya Thetkhunthod and Chalat Porthirat — denied the charges. The court then asked the prosecution charges against them separately.
After the ruling, the three defendants were immediately taken back to the prison.