Lese majeste texting convict sentenced to 20 years in jail

The Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced Ampon Tangnopakul, 61, to serve 20 years in jail after finding him guilty of four counts of texting offensive remarks against Her Majesty the Queen in May 2010.

Ampon was penalised five years each for four texting messages he sent from his mobile phone to that of Amnuay Klongwattanakit's. Amnuay was the private secretary to the then prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The court ruled that Ampon failed to provide credible evidence to back up his defence.

Although Ampon claimed he had semt his phone for repair at the time, he could not locate or identify the repair shop when police took him to the shopping mall where he said the shop was located, the ruling said.

Furthermore, the phone was in his possession and police checks of its SIM card verified that the text messages originated from his phone, it added.

The defence has yet to decide whether to seek an appellate review. A number of past convicts for offending the monarchy opted to apply for a royal pardon instead of trying to overturn the guilty verdict.