A senior aide to Thailand's new King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been jailed for five and a half years for royal defamation and other offences, police said, the latest secrecy-shrouded downfall of a palace official. The verdict, handed down by a military court on Friday, comes less than two weeks after the palace sacked the king's deputy chief of staff Chitpong Thongkum for behaving "in a way that brought about distrust and caused severe damage to the royal family".
Palace affairs are often difficult to penetrate in Thailand, where harsh lese majeste laws shield the royal family from scrutiny and make any discussion of the monarchy extremely sensitive. Media must heavily self-censor when reporting on the royal family. In addition to violating the royal insult law, Chitpong was also convicted of "committing theft in state offices" and breaching medical and cosmetic laws, according to a police statement.
"The total prison term is four years and 18 months," the statement said, without elaborating on how the statutes were violated. A military court spokesman declined to comment on the case. The initial palace statement firing Chitpong accused him of making "false claims" about Vajiralongkorn for personal gain, "releasing the king's personal medical records and stealing his assets". It said Chitpong was in charge of security for the monarch, who took the throne last year following the October death of his revered father. The royal succession was Thailand's first in 70 years and was seen as a sensitive time for the kingdom. Vajiralongkorn has yet to attain the massive popularity enjoyed by his father.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.