A Prachatai and an independent reporter were taken into police custody on Monday in connection with the alleged defacing of the walls of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok in March last year.
According to Prachatai’s “X” post, its reporter, Nuttaphol Meksobhon, was arrested yesterday afternoon for being an accomplice in causing damage to a historic site and vandalising a wall in a public place.
Nuttaphol’s arrest follows that of Nattaphon Phanphongsanon, an independent photographer, who faces similar charges.
According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), Nuttaphol, Nattaphon and a few other reporters went to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha on March 28th last year to cover an event, when “Bang-ern”, a 25-year-old artist, sprayed the wall of the temple with an anti-lèse majesté law symbol.
TLHR said that Nuttaphol was arrested at his house by police armed with an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court on May 22nd last year, while Nattaphon was arrested near Sutthiwararam Temple. Both are being detained at Phraratchawang police station.
TLHR also said that lawyers from TLHR have been providing legal assistance to the two suspects.
Nattaphon of BenarNews, an online news service affiliated with Radio Free Asia, told the media, today that he felt persecuted, because he went to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha to do his job as a journalist and not as an accomplice in the offences as charged by the police.
He said that he would not be fingerprinted to acknowledge the charges against him.
Both Nattaphon and Nuttaphol have denied the charges and vowed to fight their cases in court.
Lawyer from TLHR, Veerada Kongthanakulrote, pointed out that the two reporters had not been served with summons by the police before but were served with arrest warrants, depriving the two suspects of the opportunity to consult a lawyer.
She also noted that it was unusual for the police to send the two suspects to two different police stations, Chalong Krung and Thung Song Hong, for detention, instead of having them detained at Phraratchawang police station, where they were initially questioned.
Prachatai editor-in-chief Tewarit Maneechay has insisted that the two reporters were merely performing their duty to report on an event and were not accomplices in the offences.
“The mass media is not a party in the conflict. We are the presenters of facts,” he said.
According to TLHR, at least 1,938 individuals have been charged with political offences, including 262 people facing lèse majesté charges.
