A man who spray-painted an anarchist symbol and the number 112 on the wall of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha last year has been sentenced to eight months in jail.
Suttawee “Bang-urn” Soikham, 26, is appealing the Criminal Court ruling and has posted bail.
The native of Khon Kaen was seen by two police officers on March 28 last year spray-painting an anarchist symbol and the number 112 on the exterior wall of the temple that is part of the Grand Palace compound. The number 112 represents Section 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese-majeste law.
He was immediately arrested.
On Thursday morning, Suttawee was found guilty of vandalism and sentenced to eight months in jail.
Cases are still pending against two journalists who were at the scene when the act of vandalism took place. Police did not charge them until Feb 13 this year.
Freelance news photographer Nattaphon Phanphongsanon said after his arrest that he and Nuttaphol Meksobhon, a reporter for the online news outlet Prachatai, were just doing their jobs and had no other involvement.
The police said they had CCTV footage of the two journalists and the artist “planning” the spray-painting. However, there is no audio and it is not clear what the people in the video might be discussing.
