May 10, 2011
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai police have summoned a prominent historian to face a charge of insulting the monarchy after he made public calls for the institution to be reformed.
Somsak Jeamteerasakul, a lecturer at Thammasat University in Bangkok, has been summoned to be formally accused of lese majeste on Wednesday morning, Police Colonel Mana Phaochauy told AFP, without giving further details.
Lese majeste is a serious offence in Thailand, punishable by up to 15 years in jail, and the monarchy is an extremely sensitive subject in the politically divided nation, which is preparing for a tough election fight on July 3.
Somsak confirmed late Monday he received the summons "but they didn't give any details about what I have done or when I violated the law," he told AFP.
Late last month, the academic insisted his eight-point proposal for reforming the monarchy -- the framework for a controversial lecture he gave in December -- did not call for the institution's overthrow.
"Each and every one of my public statement(s) and written work is premised on the assumption of the continuation of the monarchy," he said in a statement published by independent news website Prachatai.
About 500 academics, diplomats, activists and foreign media attended a press conference Somsak gave at Thammasat last month, where he spoke about threats he had received as a result of his comments, the Bangkok Post daily reported.
Thailand has drawn flak from rights groups for suppressing freedom of speech using lese majeste legislation, which bans criticism of the royal family and the institution.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 83, the world's longest reigning monarch and revered as a demi-god by many Thais, has been hospitalised since September
2009.
On Monday he endorsed a decree to dissolve the lower house of parliament, paving the way for early July polls across the nation -- still deeply divided after violence between opposition protesters and troops last year left more than 90 dead.
Somsak said he believed the complaint against him came from the military.
Thailand's powerful army chief General Prayut Chan-O-Cha has recently warned political figures to keep the revered monarchy out of debate ahead of the polls.
