The Bangkok Military Court has denied bail for the two remaining "Facebook 8" administrators of a Facebook page that allegedly made fun of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
The eight administrators of the "เรารักพล.อ.ประยุทธ์" (We Love Gen Prayut) Facebook were arrested on April 27. Their warrants came a day later and they were charged with sedition and computer crime (see chart).
After 12 days, police took them to the court on Tuesday for approval to keep them for another 12 days. The court approved the request.
Their lawyer subsequently applied for bail for a surety bond of 200,000 baht each and the court approved it.
But police immediately sought to further detain two of them — Harit Mahaton and Natthika Worathaiyawich — citing the need for further investigation as they were also charged with lese majeste.
- Earlier report: Six of Facebook 8 released on bail
Police said the evidence was a chat between the pair on Facebook.
They took the pair to the court on Wednesday to seek the detention and the court approved it, citing the heavy punishment of the crime and flight risks.
Lese majeste offences under Section 112 of the Criminal Code carry a jail term of 3-15 years.
On April 28, when police held a briefing on the Facebook 8 arrests, Mr Harit and Ms Natthika denied they were close and said they only knew each other through Facebook.
Mr Harit also told friends and relatives who visited him later that he did not know how police accessed messages in his Facebook chats or inbox since he did not give them his password.
Burin Intin, a member of the Resistance Citizen group who on April 27 protested the Facebook 8 arrests , was also detained for another 12 days despite lawyers' bail application.
All suspects have denied the charges against them.
