On trial for doubting a long dead king. Thailand makes no sense.
Thailand is a peculiar country for many, many reasons, some of which have penises. This story is about something else, though. An elderly man is currently on trial for, drumroll,doubting whether King Naresuan killed the Burmese crownprince in a duel. On an elephant. In 1593. The 85-year old Sulak Sivaraksa uttered his doubts about this event in a speech in 2014.
He is on trial, facing 15 years in prison for doubting something that may or may not have happened over 400 years ago. Really, Thailand?
Offending monarchy
Insulting the monarch is known by the term ‘lese majeste’. In a lot of countries offending the monarchy is a punishable crime, because… reasons. Yes, we get that. Obviously someone shóuld be thrown in prison for voicing an opinion about the monarchy. *cough* Makes perfect sense. It’s the law and the law is the law. So there.
Insulting the monarch in Thailand is punishable by three to 15 years in prison, which is, by itself, a high level of crazy, in our opinion. However, this particular law only mentions the top members of the royal family. As in: people who are alive. Putting this 85-year old man on trial for the ‘crime’ of doubt makes absolutely no sense, a monkey can see that. Why is doubting something a king did over 400 years ago even a problem? He can’t feel insulted, because, you know, he’s extremely dead, as are his children, his children’s children and so forth. We can only hope that judges will see it the same way and acquit.