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Thai webmaster Chiranuch Premchaiporn was found guilty this morning of not deleting lse majest comments on the now defunct web board of the Thai news website Prachatai quickly enough she was sentenced to 1 year in prison, which was then reduced to an 8-month SUSPENDED sentence and a THB20,000 (US$630) fine.

In its verdict, the court states that Chiranuch has failed to delete one comment for 20 days, whereas the other nine objected comments were deleted within 10 days, thus violating against Article 14 and 15 of the 2007 Computer Crimes Actwhich punishes false data that damages a third party, causes public panic or undermines the countrys security and anyservice provider intentionally supporting the said offenses, respectively despite the fact that the court also statesthat the expectation to pre-emptively delete illegal comments was unfair.

Below is a full live timeline of the mornings events

Today at 10.00 AM (Bangkok time) the Thai Criminal Court will give its verdict againstChiranuch Jiew Premchaiporn, the webmaster of the news websitePrachatai. Chiranuch is being prosecuted for failing to delete 10 commentsmade by othersthat are deemed insulting to the monarchynot quickly enough. She has been arrestedin 2009andagain in 2011, while the website itself has been hit by numerous takedown orders and blocked repeatedly by authorities.

Chiranuch "Jiew" Premchaiporn, webmaster of the Thai news website Prachatai, awaiting her verdict at the Crminal Court in Bangkok, Thailand on April 30, 2012. Miss Chiarnuch has been charged for not deleting comments deemed insulting to the country's monarchy not quickly enough and could face 20 years in prison. (Picture: Twitter/@thainetizen)

If that paragraph above sounds familiar to you it should be: these are exactly the same words from the live-blog from the original verdict date one month ago. However, just mere 10 minutes before it was about to start, the courtdecidedto postpone the verdict, since it needed more time due to the complexity of the case.

A lot has happened since then, most notably the death of lse majest-victim Amphon Uncle SMS Tangnoppakul in prison and the lse majest complaint lodged against Prachatai columnist PravitRojanaphruk. In light of these events, Chiranuchs case could be an even more unprecedented moment that could really determine Thailands (dis-)regard for freedom of speech.

Ill live-blog and comment the verdict here and also try to gather as many as reactions as possible. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter@Saksithfor up-to-the minute updates.

+++NOTE: All times are local Bangkok time (GMT +7)+++

12.13 h: That wraps up our live-blog. Todays verdict is a clear sign by the Thai state that freedom of expression doesnt really exist here. Besides directly cracking down on content that is deemed insulting, defaming to the monarchy or just simply not according to a dominant national narrative, the verdict also underlines the requirement to its citizen to self-censor to satisfy a pre-emptive obedience.

Continued here:
Thai webmaster Chiranuch found guilty, but avoids jail term