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Jakrapob Penkair is accused of slighting the royal family during a talk at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand last August. -- ST PHOTO: NIRMAL GHOSH
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BANGKOK - A THAI minister who led protests last year against the September 2006 coup has had criminal charges of insulting the revered monarchy filed against him, a police officer said on Tuesday.
Jakrapob Penkair, a minister attached to the prime minister's office, is accused of slighting the royal family during a talk at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand last August.
If convicted of the serious lese majeste charge, he could face 15 years in jail.
Police Lieutenant Chatuporn Ngarmsuvichakun told AFP that another officer filed the complaint against Mr Jakrapob - a close ally of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra - and supplied a video and transcript of the event.
'Police will do more investigations before taking any action because this case is sensitive,' he said.
Police Lieutenant Chatuporn did not reveal what the alleged comment against the monarchy was.
Under Thai law, repeating the slight is also considered to be lese majeste.
Mr Jakrapob, who was a government spokesman under Mr Thaksin, organised street demonstrations against the 2006 coup which ousted the divisive prime minister.
He was awarded for his loyalty with a ministerial post when Mr Thaksin's allies returned to government in December in the first elections since the putsch.
Thailand's king, almost universally adored in his country, is the world's longest-reigning monarch and one of the few still protected by tough laws that prohibit any insult against the royal family.
Lese majeste is strictly enforced in Thailand. A Swiss man was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March for vandalising portraits of the king, but he received a royal pardon two weeks later and was deported. -- AFP
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