Swiss faces 75 yrs in Thai jail for King graffiti

BANGKOK, Dec 22 (Reuters) Police are looking to prosecute a Swiss who defaced images of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej during a drunken rampage on the monarch's birthday with five separate acts of lese majeste which could land him in jail for up to 75 years.

Oliver Rudolf Jufer, 57 and a long-term resident of the northern province of Chiang Mai, was arrested earlier this month after several portraits of King Bhumibol, whom many Thais regards as semi-divine, were daubed in black paint.

He has been in jail ever since while police investigated an incident which falls under draconian lese majeste laws that carry a penalty of between three and 15 years in jail for any insult to a royal.

''He committed five counts of the crime so he faces five times the penalty,'' a Chiang Mai police official said. ''I'm not sure when he will be prosecuted. It might be the end of this month or in January.'' The Matichon newspaper said Jufer had confessed to being drunk at the time. Dried paint was found on his fingers and he was caught on security cameras going into a shop which sold a spray can found disarded near one of the images, it added.

As is customary in Thai detective work, he had to return to the scene of the crime for a police re-enactment -- but early in the morning to avoid the risk of being lynched by passers-by.

The Swiss embassy in Bangkok made no comment, saying it was still trying to obtain information on the case.

Matichon was the only Thai newspaper to report the episode after Chiang Mai police asked local journalists to kill their coverage to minimise the disrespect to King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch.

REUTERS MS BD0907