The National Human Rights Commission has pledged to help seek bail for lese majeste convict Somyot Prueksakasemsuk.
Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, former editor of the Voice of Taksin magazine, flashes a V sign before the verdict in his case at the Criminal Court in January, 2013. Bangkok Post file photo
The former editor of the Voice of Taksin magazine was sentenced to 10 years in prison for publishing two articles deemed insulting to the monarchy. Somyot has sought bail more than a dozen times, all of them denied.
Activists from the June 24 group, which is allied to the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, on Thursday handed a letter asking for help to NHRC chairwoman Amara Pongsapich.
Ms Amara said she will raise the issue at the NHRC meeting in the next two weeks to find ways to ask the court to consider granting him bail. The Somyot case should be published as a case study for the public to peruse, as requested by the group, she said.
The group also expressed its opposition to the Corrections Department's proposal to move lese majeste prisoners from the Bangkok Remand Prison to prisons for criminal offenders.
It wrote to the department opposing the idea on Feb 20, but the department responded by saying it had not received it, according to the group.