Ja New’s mother cleared of lese majeste

The Criminal Court on Tuesday dismissed four-year-old lese majeste charges against Patnaree Chankit, mother of political activist Sirawith Seritiwat, alias Ja New, filed under Section 112 and the Computer Crimes Act.

The case was initially filed with the military court and later transferred to the Criminal Court.

The prosecution had charged that on March 12, 2016 Ms Patnaree had a chat on Facebook with a man named Burin Intin. The chat, from 10-10.40pm, contained words deemed insulting to the royal institution.

Burin had earlier been sentenced to prison by the military court.

According to the prosecution, Ms Patnaree’s replying to a remark by Burin with the word “Jah”, which literally means “yes” in Thai, could be construed as agreeing with Burin and being part of the…