Thailand ex-Yellow Shirt leader sentenced to 2 years in jail for lese majeste

Thailand's Appeals Court on Tuesday sentenced ex-Yellow shirt leader Sondhi Limthongkul to two years in jail for lese majeste or insulting the monarchy. In a lawsuit against Sondhi, a high-profile leader of the pro- democracy yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), made the libelous statement against the monarchy during a yellow- shirt political rally in Bangkok in 2008. He repeated a statement made by an anti-establishment red-shirt activist, Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul, at another protest. Daranee is now serving her 15-year jail term for saying the statement. The court's verdict overruled an earlier ruling by the court of the first instance which acquitted him of the charge, saying that because Sondhi did not intentionally insult the monarchy. Sondhi repeated the statement in order to attract attention from the society and the police to take action against Darunee. Sondhi has been bailed out after his lawyer submitted a 300,000 baht (about 9,600 U.S. dollars) to bail him.