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Published on July 25, 2007

The report said Thaksin had been removed from the chairmanship of the committee organising celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's accession to the throne.

Pana Janviroj, president and then publisher of the newspaper, was given a suspended jail sentence of four months and a fine of Bt20,000. The Nation was also ordered to publish the verdict twice.

The sentence, which is suspended for two years, was reduced from six months to four on account of Pana having no previous criminal record.

Pana said he would consult his legal team over whether to appeal. "We accept the ruling but would like to consider [the possibility of appealing]."

The court said it was not proper for the paper to simply run counter-information from the Office of the Privy Council, which denied ever deciding to take over the chairmanship of the organising role from Thaksin.

The verdict went on to state that as The Nation had never issued a disclaimer or acknowledged that the front-page news article was inaccurate, this opened up the possibility that its readers might not be able to weigh up for themselves what was correct information.

Thaksin may have had his reputation "affected" by the news piece, especially con-sidering the fact that there were numerous protests again the then PM at the time, it said.

"It was mere news presentation ... to let readers decide which account is more believable," part of the verdict read.

Although the newspaper stood by its account, it has never revealed its sources to the public or the court, it said.

Former government spokes-man Surapong Suebwonglee, who represented Thaksin, was not present in court yesterday.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation