A Thai court sentenced a Swiss man to 10 years in jail today for defacing images of Thai royalty.
Oliver Rudolf Jufer (57) was initially sentenced to 20 years for five acts of lese-majeste, but the judge reduced the term to take into account Jufer's guilty plea earlier this month.
Oliver Rudolf Jufer leaves the court for prison in Chiang Mai Province, 700 km (310 miles) north of Bangkok, today
It is a rare prison term for a foreigner convicted under the country's tough lese-majeste laws.
Jufer was arrested in December in the northern city of Chiang Mai after black paint was sprayed on several portraits of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (79), whom many Thais regard as semi-divine, and Queen Sirikit.
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Lese-majeste carries a penalty of three to 15 years in jail in Thailand, one of the few countries which strictly prosecutes anything deemed to demean the royal family.