Man bags 35 years in prison for insulting Thailand monarchy on Facebook
A Bangkok military court today jailed a 34-year-old man for insulting royal family on social media, according to a watchdog, it was one of the harshest sentences handed down for a crime that insulates Thailand's ultra-rich monarchy from criticism. Wichai, whose last name was withheld to protect his family from ostracisation, was convicted of ten counts of lese majeste for sharing photos and videos of the royal family that he allegedly shared on Facebook that purported to belong to a different user. He was accused of using the account to slander a former friend, said iLaw, a group that tracks royal defamation cases. A Thai legal watchdog group, iLaw, told AFP that Wichai was originally facing a 70-year sentence ten years for each count but his sentence was reduced because he confessed to the crimes after spending a year in jail waiting for his trial. Thailand's lèse-majesté law is believed to be one of the strictest law in Thailand, a law meant to prot