Vic: Australian author sentenced to jail over Thai royal insult
By Jamie Duncan and Xavier La Canna19 Jan 2009 6:53 PM
MELBOURNE, Jan 19 AAP/AP - An Australian writer who says he's endured "unspeakable suffering" in a Thai prison has been jailed for three years after pleading guilty to criminal charges of insulting the country's royal family.
But the family of Harry Nicolaides, 41, is hopeful a direct appeal for a pardon from the royal family may get the Melbourne-born author home.
A shackled Nicolaides was led into Bangkok's Criminal Court for the opening of his trial on Monday, and told reporters he would plead guilty.
Nicolaides' brother, Forde, said his brother would have been sentenced to six years in jail but his sentence was halved because of the guilty plea.
"We're devastated. You might be able to hear my mother crying in the background. It's quite devastating for us," he told AAP at home in Melbourne.
"The whole case has been a massive emotional ordeal that has consumed our entire family. It's beyond belief.
"We never expected him to be freed, but this is just the icing on the cake."
Nicolaides was arrested last year under Thailand's severe lese majeste laws, mandating a jail term of three to 15 years for defaming, insulting or threatening the Royal family, over his 2005 novel Verisimilitude.
According to the Nicolaides family, only 50 copies of the book were published and less than 10 sold.
