Supreme Court ruling postponed in Sondhi libel case

Supreme Court ruling postponed in Sondhi libel case

The Supreme Court on Thursday postponed the reading of its ruling in a defamation case filed against Sondhi Limthongkul and nine other defendants by former transport minister Phumtham Vechayachai to Nov 21.

The court ordered the postponement after one defendant failed to show up for the verdict.

The case was filed by Mr Phumtham, a former deputy secretary-general of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, in connection with a talk show programme hosted by Sondhi, a former leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), and Sarocha Porn-udomsak.

The programme, Muang Thai Rai Sapdah, was broadcast live by ASTV from Wat Pa Ban Tad in Udon Thani on the night of Nov 25, 2005.  A VCD of the programme was produced for sale and the text of it was published in the Nov 26, 27 and 28, 2005 editions of Manager Daily.

Mr Phumtham accused Sondhi of defaming him by implying that he was a former member of the Communist Party of Thailand who had no respect for democracy.  

The Criminal Court on Mar 29, 2007 sentenced Sondhi, the 5th defendant, to two years in jail and Thai Day Dot Com Company, the programme producer, to a fine of 200,000 baht. The other defendants were acquitted.

Mr Phumtham appealed, asking the court to also punish other defendants who were involved in the production and dissemination of the programme and the VCD.

On Sept 11, 2009, the Appeals Court lowered the jail sentence on Sondhi from two years to six months. The 200,000 fine on Thai Day Dot Com and the acquittal of other defendants stayed intact.   

The case was forwarded to the Supreme Court, of which the judgement was to be read on Sept 29.

However, the court postponed the reading to Nov 21 at 9am after Maruchat Rattanaprarom, the 8th defendant, did not show up.

Sondhi is currently serving a 20-year jail term in Khlong Prem Prison in another legal case filed by the Securities Exchange of Thailand.

The Supreme Court on Sept 6 upheld the 20-year jail sentence handed down on him and two other people for falsifying documents used as collateral for a 1.078-billion-baht loan from Krungthai Bank without seeking approval from the board of directors of Manager Media Group. The loan was arranged for The M Group, a private company controlled by Sondhi and a major shareholder in MMG.

Today, Sondhi was escorted from Khlong Prem Prison to the court to hear the judgement.

He talked to a group of people who showed up at the court to give him moral support.

Sondhi told them not to worry about him because he, as a good prisoner, had been taken good care of by prison warders, adding: "A warrior must sacrifice."

Speaking about his life in prison, Sondhi said after waking up in the morning he exercised by walking about one kilometre and swinging his arms 2,000 times. After breakfast, he spent his time reading and doing other activities in Zone 7, which is called "White Zone" where about 100 inmates are imprisoned.

Sondhi said he also has spent some giving general knowledge to other inmates .

At about 10.30am, he was taken back in a van to Khlong Prem Prison.

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