Gadfly Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 No, not LM this time, but not good press about Thailand. Per the Bangkok Post, " leading Swiss TV reporter arrested nine days ago has described the defamation action bought against him by a local Aids charity over a documentary made six years ago as "bizarre". And it does sound bizzare: Christoph Muller, 58, the head of documentary programmes at the German-language SF (Swiss National) TV broadcaster, was arrested and handcuffed on Feb 27 at Suvarnabhumi airport and taken to Bang Lamung police station in Chon Buri. Mr Muller was held in custody for 24 hours and granted bail after appearing in a Pattaya court. His passport has been confiscated. At the time of his arrest, Mr Muller said he had no clear idea what the charges against him were as the court documents and arrest warrants were in Thai. After consulting his lawyers, he learned that a defamation charge had been brought by the charity C.Care Asia International over a documentary aired in Switzerland in December 2002. The documentary, which investigated a Swiss man associated with the charity, was never shown outside Switzerland, but the defamation complaint was lodged with Chon Buri police on Aug 28, 2005. And then: SF TV described the measures as a ''judicial farce'' and ''out of all proportion to his apparent offence''. ''The authorities have not told Muller exactly why he was arrested, but it appears to have been the result of a 2006 complaint about a report by Muller in 2002 about a bogus Swiss doctor based in Thailand ...'' the station said in a statement. Don't know anything about the documentary, but if someone was bothered by the documentary, its seem like a civil suit in Switzerland or Thailand or at least letting the guy know about the charges beforehand would have been a good idea. The press notice this sort of stuff, and Thailand seems to be developing a bad reputation in this area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger77 Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Since the documentary was only aired in Switzerland, I don't see how they have grounds to charge him. I'm not a lawyer but surely there is some sort of international juristiction that should apply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Some countries, like Australia have laws if you commit an offence overseas. For example, If you were to travel overseas for the purpose of child sex tourism, you would be chaged upon your return to Australia under commonwealth law; the offence is traveling for that purpose, not actually for the child abuse offense that occurred overseas (which offense, naturally, would remain within the jurisdiction of the overseas country). However, we would need a Thai lawyer conversant with international law applicability to answer your question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 1. Its Thailand Not Australia 2. Its Journalism not Paedaphilia Try to keep comments relevent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Why would this be a criminal charge verse a civil matter? Plus is there a statute of limitations since it has been 9 years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 influence and money make the authorities mixing up civil law and criminal law pretty easy in Thailand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Excuse me, I thought my post was relevant albeit, not on exactly on point however, still a discussion on being charged in one country whilst one's actions were in another country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 You would be surprised, many countries do have laws on criminal defamation. Also, in most countries there is no time limitations in respect to criminal offenses. However, as I stated in my OP we would need a Thai lawyer to make comments as to how the international jurisdiction has been evoked. It may simply be the case that someone can say that the article did appear within Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 So in effect, anyone who writes anything considered against the monarchy or national security, despite residing overseas is likely to be punished if they ever visit Thailand at some point, even many years later! So they are silencing, or trying to, all journalists/writers. Or you can write things they don't like, but Thailand can never be a destination for you ever again..... Powerful stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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