Thread: Lese majesty charge against American academic dropped

The director general of the Region 6 Public Prosecutors’ Office decided today to drop lèse majesté and computer crime charges against American academic Paul Chambers.


Sakkasem Neesaiyok, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney-General, said in a statement that the decision to drop all charges against Chambers, an academic at the University of Naresuan in Phitsanuloke province, is in line with the resolution of a working committee, tasked with setting guidelines for the enforcement of the lèse majesté law (§112 of the Criminal Code).


He said that the public prosecutor in Phitsanuloke will now ask the provincial court to order the release of Chambers.


The commissioner of the Region 6 Provincial Police Bureau will also be notified of the decision.


The decision came one day after the American Political Science Association (APSA) sent an open letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and several prominent congressmen, demanding that the charges be dropped.


Yesterday, the Region 6 Appeals Court ordered the removal of the electronic monitoring bracelet from Chambers, who is currently out on bail.


The lèse majesté charge against Chambers, which was initiated by the army, has sparked protests from both Thai and international human rights advocacy groups.


Even former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has suggested that the charges might be behind the postponement of tariff talks between Thai and American delegations.

Lese majeste charge against American academic dropped

First charged 4 weeks ago.

Thai arrest warrant issued for US academic under ban on insulting royalty - BBC News

VIsa revoked 3 weeks ago. Will he get that back or is he being sent home?

Lawyers said the complaint apparently stemmed from content published on an academic website in connection with a seminar in October 2024 about the annual Thai military and police reshuffles.

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Bangkok Post - Thailand revokes visa of American detained on royal insult charge

Originally Posted by DrWilly

is he being sent home?

El Salvador

This academic was fortunate he was American. Trump's belligerent character probably helped convince the Thais not to lock this dude up.

American academic appeals against his termination by Naresuan University

Embattled American academic Paul Chambers has appealed against the termination of his employment at Naresuan University and is demanding a fact-finding investigation into his case.


Chambers, a former lecturer at the Faculty of Social Science, Naresuan University in Phitsanuloke province, was charged with lèse majesté by the Internal Security Operations Command, at the Third Army Region, concerning an article which appeared on the website of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.


The charge was eventually dropped by the director-general of the Region 6 prosecutors’ office, apparently to avoid complicating the tariff talks between Thailand and the US.


According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, Chambers submitted an appeal on Tuesday, challenging the legitimacy of two orders, signed by the vice rector for administration of Naresuan University, in his capacity as the acting rector, terminating his employment.


Chambers claimed that the termination did not follow procedure, as he is now in the process of appealing the cancellation of his visa by the Immigration Bureau. The visa cancellation was apparently triggered by the now dropped lèse majesté charge.


He also contends that he was not given a chance to defend himself against termination and that no fact-finding committee was set up to investigate his case. He cited the university’s regulations, which state that an employee of the university can be dismissed when he or she is found to be unqualified or to have committed a disciplinary violation, saying that he has neither committed any disciplinary violation nor been found to be unqualified.

American academic appeals against his termination by Naresua

The grinder is being turned on an innocent man.

Past tense, he’s appealing that all now.

If his name is mentioned by an American official in the tariff talks, he'll be back at work the next day. God bless President Trump.