Sorry, but the possible penalty for the drunk guy "insulting the king" is ridiculous.
> Sorry, but the possible penalty for the drunk
> guy "insulting the king" is ridiculous.
He's getting off lightly. If he had been caught by a crowd of nationalist Thai sorts instead of (apparently) a very understanding tourist policeman, he would likely have been beaten to death on the spot, as happened to some fruitcake on Sukhumvit who desecrated a popular shrine not too long ago.
I'm inclined to agree...but I must say that the last thing I'd ever think of doing in a foreign country with a "foreign" culture is publicly criticizing/insulting a member of that country's government or royalty
You're of course correct, he should be given a loud public apology and given his freedom in the middle of Sunday market.
He got off lucky, he's alive.
He won't have a pleasant stay in prison. The criminals won't treat him well since he's committed an offense worse than them.
He'll never get anymore Thai nooky though, and he'll have to buy his Singha in Switzerland
It doesn't seem any more serious than burning the flag.
It doesn't seem any more serious than burning the flag.
Unfortunately, most foreign countries have their own laws and their own concept of ridiculous.
What you think is irrelevant.
Looks like the Swiss are no different from every other country when it comes to "journalists". Drunk ignorant megalomaniacs.
He deserves whatever he gets. He demonstrably didn't have the brains or the judgement for the job.
He won't get 15 years in prison, he'll probably just get deported. And he is an idiot. Probably a sex tourist as well.
And you have the right to tell the King of Thailand how to run his country why, exactly?
He didn't just insult the king, he defaced public property. I don't think he would have been arrested for just a verbal remark. He committed a crime that he would have been arrested for had he committed it in the United States. It's just more serious to Thais because it involved an insult to their royal family.
"Sorry, but the possible penalty for the drunk guy "insulting the king" is ridiculous."
You obviously know what you're talking about. I'm sure you've gone to Havana and dis-respected Fidel, traveled to Pyong Yang and yanked on Kimmie, flown to Caracas and crowed about Hugo, plowed on to Russia to talk down about Putin.
Your rules and freedom work in your country, pilgrim, maybe not in other countries.