Thailand drops lese majeste charges against US scholar
Paul Chambers left for the US yesterday after case finally concluded
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has decided to dismiss lese majeste charges against a 58 year old American academic due to insufficient evidence.
This decision followed nearly two months after his initial detention, which resulted in US national Paul Chambers losing his job, work visa, and the confiscation of his passport.
Earlier this week, the OAG issued an order against prosecuting Chambers, who is a lecturer at Naresuan University in Phitsanulok province, as reported by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) on social media.
His lawyer, Wannaphat Jenroumjit, confirmed, “The case is now concluded.”
Thai immigration police verified that Chambers’ passport has been returned and that he departed the country yesterday, May 29.
Police Major General Sarawut Khonyai, a commander in northern Thailand’s immigration police, stated to Reuters, “The case is closed as the attorney-general decided to drop it.”
TLHR indicated that the OAG determined the facts and evidence were insufficient to prosecute Chambers, who had consistently denied the allegations.
The Third Army Region accused Chambers, an armed forces expert who has lived in Thailand for 30 years, of violating Section 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese majeste law. The accusation was based on comments about the powers of the prime minister and the monarchy in a promotional blurb for an international webinar last October, where he was a speaker.
The OAG agreed with Phitsanulok prosecutors’ conclusion that there was no evidence linking Chambers to the controversial message, and his name and title on the website did not prove his involvement, TLHR stated.
Initially, Chambers was placed in pre-trial detention and required to wear a monitoring device. However, the Court of Appeal later granted him bail with strict conditions. His visa was revoked, and he lost his teaching position.
The police investigating the case disagreed with the Phitsanulok provincial attorney’s office’s earlier decision to drop the charges, forwarding the case to the OAG in Bangkok for a final verdict, reported Bangkok Post.
Chambers has reportedly been appealing his employment contract termination by Naresuan University, claiming it lacked due process.
Although the lese majeste law predominantly targets Thai citizens, there have been instances where foreigners were charged. In 2012, a US citizen was granted a royal pardon after serving part of a two-and-a-half-year sentence for translating and posting a banned book about the late King Rama IX.
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This law should be canceled. I don’t think tourists should come to Thailand while the country violates human rights.