Police to probe lese majeste complaint against Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand

Reporters Without Borders urges the authorities to call off a police investigation into the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) in response to a complaint by a private Thai citizen accusing it of insulting the monarchy. As well as the FCCT board’s 13 members, the complaint names Karuna Buakamsri of Thai television station PBS television and Jim Pollard of the Bangkok-based newspaper Nation. “Press clubs all over the world are centres of free expression where journalists can hear a wide range of views,” Reporters Without Borders said. “This politically-motivated complaint violates the freedom accorded to foreign journalists in Thailand and constitutes yet another abuse of the law protecting the royal family.” The police announced on 3 July 2009 that they would investigate a complaint accusing the FCCT of lese majeste, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. The complaint was brought by Laksana Kornsilpa, a 57-year-old translator and support of the “yellow-shirt” movement that opposes former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Laksana objected to the fact that a DVD compilation of speeches made at the club included one by Thaksin ally Jakrapob Penkair which in her view insulted the Thai royal family. She also accused the FCCT of deliberating trying to destabilise the monarchy. FCCT president Marwaan Macan-Markar told Reporters Without Borders that the club intended to cooperate with the investigation. As Reporters Without Borders deplored in a February 2009 report on lese majeste in Thailand, any citizen can ask the police to investigate any form of alleged attack on the royal family and the police have to act on all such investigation requests. http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_en_2_.pdf Article 8 of the 2006 constitution says: “The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated. No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action.” The FCCT is a respected institution in Thailand. Its board members include journalists employed by the BBC, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and Inter Press Service. One of its members, BBC correspondent Jonathan Head, is already the target of several lese majeste complaints brought by a policeman. In April, Reporters Without Borders and 30 other NGOs appealed jointly to the Thai prime minister to amend the lese majeste legislation.