The Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced former Democrat Party MP Vachara Phetthong to a 32-month suspended prison term and fined him 320,000 baht for defaming Chatchawal Apibansri, then a member of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), in 2018.
The court also ordered Mr Vachara to pay Mr Chatchawal 500,000 baht in damages.
The court ruled in favour of a lawsuit filed by Mr Chatchawal over comments made on March 7, 2018 by Mr Vachara, who was co-hosting a television programme.
Mr Chatchawal was then chairman of a committee for the acceleration of the construction of the new parliament.
According to the lawsuit, Mr Vacharra wrongfully accused him of acting like a big boss in pushing for an increase in the budget for the new parliament’s…
