Thailand’s king has pardoned a Swiss man who was jailed for 10 years last month for defacing portraits of the monarch, prison officials said today.
Oliver Rudolf Jufer (57) will be deported from the country later on Thursday despite being a long-term Thai resident.
The pardon was timed to coincide with Thailand’s New Year, said Chuchart Chailert, governor of the prison in the northern city of Chiang Mai where Jufer was sent after being sentenced last month.
”He now feels guilty about what he has done and is grateful for the royal pardon,” Chuchart told the Reuters news agency.
The Swiss man was the first foreigner in more than a decade to be convicted under Thailand’s strict laws protecting King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has ruled since 1946 and is deeply revered by the Thai people.
Jufer, who pleaded guilty to five counts of lese majeste, or insulting the monarchy, faced a maximum sentence of 75 years in prison.
He was caught by surveillance cameras in December last year spraying black paint over five outdoor posters of the king in Chiang Mai, where he lived. The vandalism coincided with the monarch’s 79th birthday, which was celebrated across Thailand with fireworks and prayers, as well as the hanging of great numbers of portraits of the king around the country.
The case cast a rare spotlight on the lese majeste laws, which have remained virtually unchanged since the creation of the country’s first criminal code in 1908, despite the overthrow of an absolute monarchy in 1932. – Guardian Unlimited Â