Lese majeste law makes family feud a battle royal

Lese majeste law makes family feud a battle royal

Thanawat Martnok and his little brother have argued most of their lives - about their struggling business, about politics, even about their dogs. Mr Thanawat says that is because his little brother "just never listened".

And so, one day three years ago, Mr Thanawat decided to teach his sibling a lesson. He told police Yuthapoom Martnok had defamed the monarch — an extraordinarily grave allegation that instantly escalated a simple family feud into an issue the justice system views as a threat to the stability of the kingdom itself.

Mr Yuthapoom was indicted on charges of lese majeste — insulting the royal family — a crime punishable by up to 15 years behind bars on each charge. Denied bail on national security grounds, he has been jailed for a year in a Bangkok prison where he is anxiously awaiting the court's ruling on Friday.

Such charges were once rare in Thailand, but they have become more common since a 2006 military coup intensified a bitter societal divide in the country. Critics complain that lese majeste laws are vulnerable to being abused by political rivals to destroy enemies.

Mr Yuthapoom's case is unusual, and worrying to some, not only because it pits one brother's word against another, but because the alleged transgressions are said to have occurred in private, in the sanctity of their home. Thanawat is his brother's only accuser, and other relatives say Yuthapoom is innocent.

"It's a bizarre case that shows lese majeste can be used not just as a political weapon, but in any kind of conflict — even one involving a family," said Chiranuch Premchaiporn, a webmaster who received an eight-month suspended sentence last year over internet comments that prosecutors deemed insulting to the crown. She was accused not of posting the comments, but of deleting them too slowly from her news website.

Ms Chiranuch said Mr Yuthapoom's case "shows how easily the law can be abused. It also shows why we need to reform it".

Mr Yuthapoom staunchly denies the charges, saying he would never defame His Majesty the King or the royal family. The King, who ascended to the throne in 1946 and is now the world's longest-serving monarch, is 85 and ailing but remains widely beloved in the nation of 66 million.

Yuthapoom said his elder brother falsely accused him in a bid to seize the car-cleaning-liquid business the siblings once ran together. Thanawat now controls the business.

"This is a family feud that has been blown way out of proportion," Mr Yuthapoom, 36, told The Associated Press at Bangkok Remand Prison. "I can't believe my own brother would do this to me. I'm still trying to grasp how it came to this."

In this photo taken Sept 7, 2013, Jongkon Kongthin, 36, left, wife of Yuthapoom Martnok and Yuthapoom's sister Pinyo Ruaylarp, 42, talk during an interview outside a prison in Bangkok. (AP Photo)

Interviews with the siblings, their sister and Mr Yuthapoom's wife paint a long history of enmity between the brothers.

Mr Thanawat, 38, said that while growing up in the northeastern region, he clashed with his brother "all the time" because they were so different.

Mr Thanawat was the quieter of the two, an introvert who never drank and never smoked. Mr Yuthapoom, on the other hand, was loud and guzzled alcohol often after work, according to his family.

Nevertheless, the two ended up living together in a three-bedroom Bangkok house from 2006 until 2009, along with Mr Yuthapoom's wife and Mr Thanawat's girlfriend. The brothers often fought; Mr Thanawat said he was especially angry over the many discounts Mr Yuthapoom gave to clients.

After one skirmish in 2009, Mr Yuthapoom drew a knife; he claims it was self-defence because Mr Thanawat kicked him in the chest. The police were called, but no charges were filed. Then Mr Thanawat moved out for good.

A month later, Mr Thanawat filed an official lese majeste complaint, alleging that Mr Yuthapoom had insulted the King months before the knife incident, as the pair watched him on television, and scrawled offensive words on a video CD around the same time.

Pinyo Ruaylarp, the brothers' 42-year-old sister, said the officer who received the complaint initially tried to dissuade Mr Thanawat from filing it, believing it to be nothing more than a venomous family spat since it was filed well after the alleged crimes occurred. But she said Mr Thanawat was adamant, and the complaint duly made its way to the Office of the Attorney-General.

Media operating in Thailand cannot publish the content of the alleged insults because doing so would also be a violation of the lese majeste laws.

Mr Thanawat told AP that he did not report Mr Yuthapoom's transgressions right away "because I thought he could still listen, that he could change". But their last fight was so severe he decided he had no choice.

"There was no other way to talk sense into him," Mr Thanawat said in the living room of his small Bangkok home, where a portrait of the King hangs on the wall. "He had to be taught a lesson."

Mr Thanawat said that although he has argued with his brother about many things unrelated to the King, his allegation is true. The interests of the country and the monarchy "are more important than family", he said.

Mr Pinyo said the case has devastated their mother, On Suthison. She testified that she had never heard Mr Yuthapoom defame the crown and did not believe he could do so, according to defence lawyer Saovalux Pongam, who has taken the case pro-bono. The mother testified that Mr Yuthapoom loved the King dearly and often lit candles at home to commemorate his birthday.

David Streckfuss, an American expert on lese majeste at Khon Kaen University, called the case exceptional not only because "they obviously have some family issues to resolve", but because the alleged crimes occurred in the privacy of the brothers' household.

Most lese majeste trials have involved defamation that occurred in the public domain — through a speech, on the internet, or in one instance by spray-painting graffiti over outdoor portraits of the King. Mr Streckfuss said one foreigner had also been charged with insulting the monarchy during a private conversation overheard in a restaurant.

"Hopefully this will not be a new trend," Mr Streckfuss said. He said that if Mr Yuthapoom is convicted Friday, "it will be a significant step toward extending lese majeste coverage, something that says that what goes on in the privacy of your own home is no longer private".

The case already has taken a toll, and not solely on Mr Yuthapoom. Mr Thanawat is now estranged from the rest of his family.

Their mother, Mr Thanawat said bitterly, "always liked Yuthapoom best."

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