Bunyuen Prasertying: 1 year and 10 months in jail for lèse majesté
Lèse majesté convict Bunyuen Prasertying was recently granted a royal pardon on the occasion of Coronation Day (5 May), and released from jail around the same time as some other convicts, including Suwicha Thakor.
Bunyuen did not look much changed from when she was in prison. Though seemingly not in very good health, and walking unsteadily as a result of an old motorcycle accident, her eyes still shone with enthusiasm.
Prachatai met with her for an interview one day in June. She wore a pink t-shirt with a royal symbol, like everyone else in Thai society, to show loyalty to the monarchy.
She said that it was her own conviction not to let anyone claim the institution for his or her own political interest which had led to her arrest, because she had strongly attacked the coup-making Council for National Security, and unintentionally made certain references to the monarchy, in front of an audience of only a few dozen at Sanam Luang.
She was arrested on 15 Aug 2008 on a charge of insulting the Crown Prince, and was punished with a sentence of 12 years in jail, which was reduced by half as she had confessed.
During that time, people gathered in small groups to voice their opposition to the coup at Sanam Luang. The outspoken Bunyuen was a prominent speaker among them, claiming the alias ‘Eagle Lady’.
She said that she had followed politics in the same way as other wage earners. She had never participated in political activities, until the Thaksin government, whose policies and actions she admired, was ousted by the coup. She then came out to join protests which were pro-Thaksin and against the People’s Alliance for Democracy. She said that poor people were doing better during Thaksin administration, and they had given their votes to elect that government.
She grew up in Bangkok in a broken family, and struggled hard to survive. She finished Matthayom 3 (Grade 9) in the non-formal education system. She has two children who can take care of themselves now.
She has been a junk dealer for many years. While she was in jail, her mortgaged house was seized, among other things.
However, she did not talk much about her own difficulties, but kept on asking about the recent political tragedy.
Bunyuen was an exemplary inmate. Each time Prachatai visited her, she always referred to wardens with respect and conformed to all rules.
She chose a totally different path in her court case from Da Torpedo. She pleaded guilty and insisted on her loyalty to the crown.
During her 1 year and 10 months in prison, she heard a lot of stories from other inmates, perplexing and depressing at the same time. She has been inspired to write about these, and run a campaign to improve certain aspects of the law and the justice system which suppress ordinary people.
She plans to write two books, one telling the hardships of inmates who are mostly from the lower class, and whose life has been wretched both outside and inside prison; and the other dealing with problems of Thai law and the process of justice, particularly police arrests of narcotics suspects.
These proved to be numerous and exciting as Prachatai sat listening to her for almost three hours.
She, however, has not yet come up with titles for her books, and welcomes ideas.
Comments
Has this been published
Has this been published anywhere else? She has been out of prison for a while now. What a lunatic country this has become!
A junk dealer, locked up for speaking! House gone, health gone, dumped back on the streets.
What a truly despicable bunch of human beings runs this country.
The BPundit points to a
The BPundit points to a Nation article DSI sets up large lesemajeste force
It points once again to Tyrell Haberkorn's reminder of the pogrom that followed in the wake of the 1976 massacre...
...and is going on right now in the wake of the 2010 massacre, and now the government is taking lèse majesté persecutions to a whole new level, devoting hundreds of agents and hundreds of millions of baht to the drawn-out intimidation and harrassment... and eventual decades-long prison terms for some... on charges of "behaviour considered detrimental or illminded to the monarchy".
Surely their persecution is "detrimental or illminded to the monarchy", to Thailand, and to the Thai people.
I am sure they have poor King Bhumipol on drugs in the hospital. HM would never stand for this if he were not incapacitated in some way.
Thai people must reject
Thai people must reject violence and embrace civil disobedience as the only effective way to push out Thailand's illegitimate military backed junta.
You notice I wrote, "Thai people" and not "Thai red shirts", this is an important distinction. Ordinary Thais must be prepared to fearlessly back those few people who are putting their liberty on the line for them and their country.
It is up to Thai people to stand up against the crooks who are destroying their nation, not with guns or knives, but with their full support. There will probably be only one more chance for Thais to free themselves from tyranny, before Thailand becomes a de facto military dictatorship.
Next time, Thais should stay put, even if their legs shake with fear.
That Amnesty International
That Amnesty International are still completely silent on the issue of LM while Thai citizens rot in jail shows how utterly bankrupt their Thai operation is.
Ben Zawacki, Amnesty International's Thailand researcher and the key player in making sure that Thailand's government is not being held to account has confessed to having secret meetings with PM Abhisit and has openly supported the use of lese majeste.
He is also reported to be very close to a number of PAD activists who were formerly involved with Amnesty International. He is completely discredited and allied with extremists.
We must ask Amnesty to remove Zawacki and replace him with a committed human rights activist - not someone who panders to a regime that has such a terrible human rights record.
Amnesty’s silence on lese
Amnesty’s silence on lese majeste
Is Ben Zawacki setting Amnesia International policy, or "just following orders"?
Amnesty International has zero credibility in Thailand. They have sided with the "elite" and betrayed the Thai people.
Which makes one question Amnesty International's bona fides everywhere.
John, Couldn't agree more -
John,
Couldn't agree more - maybe you could blog about this? Start a campaign to get Zawacki removed from his job?
Zawacki is now clearly a stooge of the Thai elite and he no longer follows Amnesty's statutes in regards to Thailand's human rights.
He has privately been an apologist for the extremists in the PAD and has expressed sympathy for them. Furthermore he has refused to discuss Amnesty Thailand's connection to the PAD. One can only assume he is a sympathiser of fascism.
He also clearly views Thai's rights as being beneath those of Western nationals - there is no way that Amnesty would tolerate such an odious government in any Western nation.
Yes... but what makes you
Yes... but what makes you think those "above him" at Amnesia International are any different? His statements seem to me to reflect the views of Amnesia itself.
Greenpeace Betrays the
Greenpeace Betrays the Whales
It is the nature of The Organization... governmental, religious, social, academic, journalistic, non-governmental, makes no difference... to enslave the very people who enliven it.
The people who enliven the organization necessarily come to identify their well-being with the well-being of the organization, at which point they are voluntarily enslaved, and the organization morphs from servant to slaver.
Amnesia International is an organization like any other. The problem with organizations is they can attain, at least theoretically, immortality.
They certainly "are not like us". Yet, though we cannot live with them, how can we cannot live without them?
Ivan Illich euthanized the CIDOC, the organization he created. There are surely other examples that I am not aware of. We need more of that.
Let the people and their ideas and ideals live. Let their organizations die.