Man who defaced picture of Thai king faces 75 years behind bars
Mr Jufer, a 57-year-old Swiss, faces a jail sentence of 75 years, not because of the damage he caused but because of what he damaged: posters of the country's monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
He pleaded guilty yesterday in the city of Chiang Mai to five counts of lese-majeste - the crime of insulting the monarchy. Mr Jufer's prosecution draws attention to one of the most curious anomalies about Thailand: a country shockingly tolerant in some respects, but intolerant even of the slightest criticism of its Royal Family.
The crime was committed last December on the 79th birthday of King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, who celebrated 60 years on the throne last summer. To honour the occasion, sales of alcohol were stopped early, and this appears to have triggered Mr Jufer's frustration.
He was caught on surveillance cameras spraying black paint over a few of the millions of portraits of the king seen in towns and cities. After his arrest, he denied insulting the king and defacing public property, but pleaded guilty yesterday to the five charges, each carrying a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of 15.
The hearing was held behind closed doors, and Mr Jufer said nothing to journalists as he entered and left the court in orange prison overalls with his legs shackled.
"Revealing the details of this case does not benefit anybody because it involves the king and the monarchy," the prosecutor, Bhanu Kwanyuen, said. "In every Thai Constitution, the king is revered, and he cannot be insulted. Thai people cannot accept this."
Despite the lese-majeste laws having been on the statute books since 1959, the authorities appear embarrassed about using them to prosecute, perhaps conscious of how anachronistic and draconian they appear. The laws have never been invoked by members of the Royal Family. Instead, individual citizens are empowered to bring charges against others. They have been used mainly by rival politicians to accuse one another of disloyalty to the monarchy.
Ironically, the only person with the nerve to question the lese-majeste laws has been King Bhumibol. "When you say the king can do no wrong, it is wrong," he said on his 78th birthday, a year to the day before Mr Jufer's tantrum. "I must also be criticised. Because if you say the king cannot be criticised, it means the king is not human." (© The Times, London)
- Richard Lloyd Parry
