Convicted “Godfather of Chon Buri” and disgraced policeman Pongpat Chayapan are among 178,000 prisoners whose sentences have been reduced or ended under a royal pardon issued by His Majesty the King to mark Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s 60th birthday on April 2.
Drug convicts and inmates with poor conduct were not among those pardoned by a royal decree, which came into effect on Tuesday.
Of the total of 178,000 pardon receivers, 38,000 were released and the rest had their jail sentences commuted to varying degrees, said Corrections Department director-general Wittaya Suriyawong.
Among those to have their sentences reduced was Somchai Khunploem, aka Kamnan Poh, who had five years and eight months deducted from his 30-year-plus sentence. He, however, already is 78.
Somchai, the so-called "Godfather of Chon Buri'' was sentenced to 25 years for masterminding the murder of his political rival Prayoon Sitthichoke, village chief of tambon Samet in Chon Buri's Muang district, at a wedding reception in March 2003. He was also given a jail term of five years and four months for corruption involving the 1992 sale of a site in Khao Maikaew forest reserve for use as a garbage dump.
Mr Wittaya said former chief of Criminal Investigation Bureau Pongpat Chayapan, convicts in his criminal network and members of the Suwadee family also had their sentences reduced, except jail terms for convictions on lese majeste charges.
Prisoners who had less than one year left to serve, disabled convicts, and those suffering from illnesses that cannot be cured in prison and who have already served more than three years, or half of their jail terms, also were released.
The decree also covered prisoners with good conduct whose remaining jail terms do not exceed two years, prisoners over 60 years old with less than three years remaining, and first-time offenders younger than 20 who have served at least half their sentences.