No One Plans to Go to a Thai Prison

Getting arrested in Thailand, going to a Thai prison, and working with a good lawyer in Thailand typically is unexpected. Most of the people we have represented in court did not intend to get arrested. It was simply not in their plans. This is the nature of getting arrested in Thailand and defending yourself against criminal charges in a Thai court. A recent story reported by the Bangkok Post reminded us of how easily one can get arrested in Thailand. As the newspaper reports, a Chinese man named Zhou Hongzhi was feeding fish at an island near Phuket with his Thai tour guide when the police detained him and arrested him for the act. The Chinese man was Read more

Bail Cases in Thailand: Newsworthy Stories about Bail

Thailand Bail has worked on a number of interesting and unique bail cases throughout the years, giving us real, on-the-ground experience dealing with a variety of situations. In Thailand lawyers must be both well-versed in academic aspects of the law as well as practical situations that they can pull from when they need to. However, there are some newsworthy bail cases that come about occasionally that are worth learning from. Our article today explores a few of these bail cases and what can be learned Read more

The Price of Bail in Thailand

One of the first questions that we get asked from prospective clients is “how much is bail in Thailand?” The answer can vary drastically, as was evidenced in recent news articles in Bangkok. Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra posted bail of 30 million Thai baht, almost $1 million USD. Former Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom has just posted 20 million Thai baht for bail whilst his case continues. While these bail amounts may seem high, they seem small compared to the bail recently set by a US judge for rapper Suge Knight, who apparently collapsed when he heard his bail was set at $25 million USD.

Does this mean that your bail, or the bail of your friend or family in jail in Thailand, is going to be set sky-high? Fortunately, Read more

Bail in Thailand: The Importance of the Bail Appeal

In this article, we want to discuss the importance of the bail appeal, a process that is not known to many Thai lawyers. For those Thai lawyers who do know about bail appeals in Thai courts, they often do not tell their clients about this, because the bail appeal involves a lot of research and writing on the part of the Thai lawyer team. A typical bail appeal that the Thailand Bail legal team writes can easily be more than 6 pages in length.

The bail appeal is like a mini-trial before the trial. If you have had any experience in the Thai court system, you will know how long it can take for a case to go to trial. The length  of time from arrest to the judge handing down the final verdict can be anywhere from 9 months to 12 months, depending on the case and the number of times it is postponed. Instead of waiting for 9 – 12 months, Thailand Bail recommends applying for bail as soon as possible. For difficult cases involving foreigners, the first court sometimes rejects bail. However, Thailand Bail has been Read more

Bail Cases in Thailand, Korkaew Pikulthong

Summary

The judge overseeing the case of Thai member of parliament denied the bail request from the MP’s Thai lawyer Jessada Chandee. Bail was requested based on the fact that the MP wanted to attend a garden party at Government House and go on an economic development trip to Italy. The judge ruled that this particular MP would likely repeat the crime he was charged with. This MP was charged with charges of terrorism, threatening the Constitution Court and creating unrest in society. The ruling attempted to define the difference between simply having a dissenting opinion and actually causing civil unrest for political purposes. Lawyers in Thailand who have commented on this case note that because of the political nature of the case, the ruling could cause severe Read more