THAILAND:A Swiss man was sentenced to 10 years in jail yesterday for defacing images of Thai royalty, a rare prison term for a foreigner convicted under Thailand's tough lèse-majesté laws.
Oliver Rudolf Jufer (57) received 20 years for five acts of lèse-majesté (insulting royalty), but the judge reduced the term to take into account his guilty plea. He had faced a maximum of 75 years in jail.
Jufer, a longtime resident of Thailand, was arrested in the northern city of Chiang Mai after black paint was sprayed on several portraits of 79-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whom many Thais revere as semi-divine, and Queen Sirikit.
Police said Jufer was drunk when he defaced the portraits on December 5th, the king's birthday and a national holiday.
Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Philippe Jeannerat said the court's "rigorous" application of the criminal code had been noted. King Bhumibol was educated in Switzerland. - (Reuters)