SAMUT PRAKAN — Former Samut Prakan mayor Chonsawadi Asvahame went to jail for 18 months on Tuesday after losing his final appeal of an election-fraud conviction.
The long-running court battle came to a close at the Samut Prakan courthouse after the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Appeal Court, which ruled that he cheated in municipality elections on May 2, 1999.
The Supreme Court said the verdict on Tuesday carried no suspended term and a bail was not allowed, according to the court statement released after the ruling. He was jailed immediately after the hearing ended.
The court also sentenced fellow defendant Pitichart Traisurat to three years in prison for dereliction of duty and producing fake official documents. Pitichart remains on the lam with an arrest warrant pending.
Chonsawadi colluded with Pitichart to rig the election by stuffing ballot boxes with unregistered voters to support his bid for a second term as mayor, as well as others on his 2000 Pak Nam slate, on several occasions between March 31 and May 2.
The son of former politician Vatana Asvahame was caught red-handed on video.
Chonsawadi arrived at court on Tuesday with his lawyer and supporters and was immediately taken by Corrections Department officials through a back door to the provincial central prison at Khlong Dan amid shock and cries from people packing the court room to show their support.
The final chapter in the case had been postponed six times as he and Pitichart cited health problems as reasons to delay the verdict.
Chonsawadi later ran for the provincial administration organisation and became its president in 2011, but the National Council for Peace and Order suspended him from duty in June this year due to suspected irregularities in the provincial budget.
His father Vatana fled the country before the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions sentenced him to 10 years in prison in 2008 on the corruption charges in the Khlong Dan case.