Giles Ungpakorn (CD Distribution)
Defendant
Case Status
Case Started
Complainant / Plaintiff
Table of Content
The Special Case No. 17/54 of the DSI involves Mr. Jai Ungpakorn's distributon of CDs containing images, audios and files aiming to overthrow the Constitutional Monarchy. Under investigation.
Defendant Background
Associate Professor Giles Ungpakorn was a lecturer at the faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. In 1997, he initiated the establishment of a committee to review the history of the incident on October 6, 1976. He participated in a number of activities organized by various NGO groups. He also contributed various critical essays concerning Thai socio-politics both in Thai and English newspaper. All of his cases (4 cases) are special cases and under jurisdiction of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI). Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) considered Giles as a part of the anti-monarchy chart.
Offense
Allegation
The Special Case No. 17/54 of the DSI involves Mr. Jai Ungpakorn's distributon of CDs containing images, audios and files aiming to overthrow the Constitutional Monarchy. Under investigation.
Circumstance of Arrest
Trial Observation
Black Case
Court
Additional Info
December 1, 2009: Daily News, a Thailand based newspaper, gave the news referring to the anonymous source (expect to be an inquiry officer for the crime related to national security on monarchy) that on 28 November 2009, Pol.Col. Prawes Moonpramook, Deputy Director-General of DSI, acting as a Deputy Chief of the inquiry officers for anti-monarchy cases, issued a letter to the Chief of the first special inquiry teams requesting him to attend an inquiry session with the new inquiry team. The source also mentioned that the first inquiry teams felt that act by the new inquiry teams put them in a difficult position, and also felt that the new team disrespects the work of the first team.
Pol.Col. Prawes, on the other hand, commented regarding his letter that the aim of this inquiry is only to discuss about information on the investigation of the first team especially about the anti-monarchy chart issued by CRES. In the chart, only names of persons are provided but it does not state the detail of a place or nature of the crime that those persons have committed. The new inquiry team therefore would like to discuss about the finding of the first inquiry team. This inquiry therefore does not aim to evaluate the operation of the first team as assumed. The first inquiry teams failed to identify if persons in the chart actually committed the crime.
March 30, 2012: Matichon, a Thailand based newspaper published the interview of Pol.Col. Prawes Moonpramook, Deputy Director-General of DSI, regarding the anti-monarchy chart case. He said that all of the witnesses already gave testimony but the inquiry team was still unable to identify suspects of the crime. In the next step, DSI will call for a meeting to conclude files of a case before a long break during Songkran festival. At this moment, DSI will issue a non-prosecution order because it could not identify the suspects of the crime clearly. However DSI will continue to investigate the lese majeste offences committed by individual (a crime committed individually, not as part of the anti-monarchy network mentioned in a chart). Pol.Col. Prawes Moonpramook also admitted that there are difficulties in the investigation as most suspects involved in the case have already left the Kingdom. Moreover most of the lese majeste offences were committed on the Internet, and it is difficult to establish relation between a person and a crime.
Reference
CRES distributed anti-monarchy chart, Siam Intelligent Unit website, 27 April 2010 (refer on 18 April 2010)
DSI’s internal conflict caused trouble to the investigation of lese majesty cases, Daily News website, 1 December 2009 (refer on 18 April 2012)
Overview DSI’s cases – 33 cases involved lese majesty offense, Matichon website, 3 January 2012 (refer on 18 April 2012)
DSI issue a non-prosecution order as witness and evident cannot identified a suspect of crime clearly, Matichon website, 30 march 2012 (refer on April 2012)