Read this article before entering Lao PDR. I think you don't want to do that btw, Laos might differ Thailand with some rules A WESTERN man living in Thailand was yesterday jailed for 10 years after he admitted insulting its king by defacing posters of him with paint. Oliver Jufer earlier declined the chance of a suspended sentence by doing com munity service, saying instead that he would rather go home. His jail term could have been 20 years but a judge in the northern city of Chiang Mai halved it be cause of his guilty plea. Jufer, from Zurich, Switzerland, was arrested under the country’s lese- majeste laws on December 5 last year when millions of Thais were celebrating the 79th birthday of King Bhumipol Adulyadej. The bars in Chiang Mai were closed out of respect for the world’s longest-reigning monarch but Jufer, 57, was apparently furious that he could not buy a beer. In an earlier hearing, the court heard how he bought black spray paint and then set about defacing five images of the King and his wife Queen Sirikit. He was caught on CCTV buying the cans. Paint was also found on his hands and when police went to his rented house they found a partially-used tin. Police say he confessed quickly, admitting that he had drunk 12 cans of beer at home and had got angry about the traffic in Chiang Mai and being alone. Spraying the posters was his way of getting back at Thailand, they said. But since his arrest Jufer has given the appearance of being mentally disturbed. He claimed at various times the spraying was done by an Italian or a German and gave a number of names. But three psychiatrists who examined him insisted he was merely acting. Anxious to play down the matter, the court even looked at the option of giving him community service. But Jufer, a former engineer, replied: “I don’t want to work. I’d rather go home to Switzerland.” He was eventually jailed for five counts of lese-majeste. After the sentence was read out Jufer, who retired to Thailand 10 years ago on a disability pension, said: “Its rather high isn’t it? Do you think they will reduce it?” He was led from the court in shackles and his prison uniform, then taken to Chiang Mai jail where he shares a cell with six foreigners. While awaiting sentence, he has been kept away from Thai prisoners in order to protect him. Switzerland’s embassy in Bang kok said it respected the Thai court’s decision. The case casts a spotlight on the lese-majeste law. Jufer is one of the first foreigners to be jailed under it. Thais revere their king as almost god-like and any insult to him or his family can carry up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
