2 Thai students indicted in anti-monarchy case

Prosecutors have charged two Thai university students with defaming the country's monarchy in a stage performance last year, moving on a complaint filed by a group of royalists, a lawyer said today.

The students a male and a female were charged on Friday with lese majeste, which mandates a prison term of up to 15 years for anyone insulting Thailand's monarchy, said Pawinee Chumsri, a human rights lawyer who is representing the pair.

The students were involved in a play at Bangkok's Thammasat University last October called "The Wolf Bride," which told the story of a fictional monarch. They have been in jail since their arrest in August, with their bail requests repeatedly turned down by a Bangkok court, Pawinee said.
 

"We are seeking to bail them for the fifth time already. The court had said in the past that the case has a severe penalty and the alleged crime was done in front of a large number of people," Pawinee said.

In Thailand, anyone can file a lese majeste complaint with police, and the charge has frequently been used as a weapon to harass political enemies. In this case, a group calling itself the Royal Monarch Alert Protection Network filed the complaint.

The indictment comes during a period of heightened nationalism under a military-installed government that took power in a coup in May. The new regime has said that protecting the monarchy is a priority, and has allocated a large budget to the military and ministries for the task.