The Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Media Defence–Southeast Asia (MD-SEA) today filed an amicus curiae submission in the appeal of magazine editor Somyot Phruksakasemsuk, addressing the Thai courts’ refusal to grant bail pending his trial and appeal.

On 23 January 2013, Somyot was convicted to ten years imprisonment for two violations of Thailand’s strict lese-majeste law which prohibits any criticism of the monarchy. As editor of the Voice of Taksin (“Voice of the Oppressed”) magazine, he had allowed publication of two satirical articles that were deemed to be “insulting” to the monarchy. In April, he filed an appeal against the decision of the first instance court and also filed his 14^th request for bail. The appeals court rejected Somyot’s bail request due to the “severity of his crime”, which had “affected the morality and feelings of the people”.

The intervention by MLDI, FIDH and MD-SEA argues that the grounds on which the court refused bail to Somyot violateThailand’s obligations under international human rights law. “Somyot’s continued detention is illegitimate since it results from his exercise of the right to freedom of expression,” said MLDI’s Senior Legal Counsel Nani Jansen. “We hope that the Supreme Court will take Thailand’s obligations under international law into consideration in its review of a new bail application, as well as the appeal in general.”

Please click here for the submission by MLDI, FIDH and MD-SEA:

http://www.mediadefence.org/sites/default/files/uploads/FIDH-MLDI-MDSEA%20Somyot%20Legal%20Brief%20ENG-FINAL.pdf