BANGKOK – Six young Thais accused of setting portraits of the royal family on fire have been granted rare acquittals, their lawyer said Thursday, escaping strict royal defamation charges that can carry 15 years in jail. She added that that verdicts now trend towards acquittals or charges that carry lesser jail time. “It’s somewhat good progress to see 112 cases are not easily prosecuted,” she said. Yingcheep Atchanont, from the legal monitoring group iLaw, said there have been four acquittals this year and no new cases. In August 2017 a prominent student activist was jailed for two and a half years for sharing a BBC Thai-language profile of King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Facebook.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 20, 2018 11:15 UTC