Ex-mayor jailed for forcing reporter to strip as punishment for covering his alleged marriage to underage girl

A file photo of Premsak Piayura.
A file photo of Premsak Piayura.

A former mayor in northeastern Khon Kaen province was sentenced to two months in prison yesterday afternoon. The court’s ruling followed an incident in July 2016 where the politician forced a journalist to strip to his underpants as punishment for running a story about his alleged marriage to a teen girl.

Dr. Premsak Piayura, 53, was found guilty of intimidation and public indecency by forcing Korsit Kongchom, then 64, from the Daily News newspaper to remove his trousers in the mayor’s office on July 26, 2016.

Dr. Premsak’s former assistant Buathong Lokhan was given the same sentence. They were released on THB120,000 (US$3,650) bail, pending their appeal.

Neither spoke to reporters and left the court immediately after the trial, Thairath reported.

Dr. Premsak, a former mayor of Ban Phai municipality, was in hot water two years ago, after local media ran photos of what appeared to be a Thai wedding ceremony between the politician, then 51, and a girl who was reportedly 16 or 17 at the time.

The Daily News story, published on July 25, 2016, wrote that Dr. Premsak “married a Mathayom 5 school girl” (equivalent to 11th grade) and gave her parents a Toyota Vios and THB400,000 cash (about US$12,160) as the dowry.

A screenshot of the Daily News story.

The legal age to get married in Thailand is 20 years old, but a youth above the age of 17 may get married with the permission of their guardian.

Premsak has never publicly explained whether or not the marriage was legit. At the time, he said that the photos — showing him bestowing the girl’s parents with stacks of cash — were evidence only of his attempt “to help out her family.”

Following the widely reported scandal, Premsak allegedly invited five reporters to his office the next day, including Korsit from Daily News, and ordered the door locked, according to local media reports.

Premsak forced Korsit to remove his trousers, because his publication “wrote a lot” about the scandal. He was quoted saying, “How would you feel if I took your photos to humiliate you?” before instructing his employees to removers the journalist’s trousers.

Premsak was permanently dismissed from the office the following year.



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