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By AP 
14h ago
BANGKOK – Labor activists, journalists and whistleblowers in Thailand have been targeted in recent years in criminal defamation suits for exposing alleged corporate wrongdoing, but now a disgruntled hotel guest has joined their ranks and could face a sentence of prison for his online comments discrediting a hotel.
American expat Wesley Barnes, who teaches English in Thailand, said he is eager to end his dispute with the Sea View Koh Chang hotel, which could end up costing him up to seven years in prison for defamation and violation of the Cybercrime Act. Posting allegedly false posts. information online.
The case got publicity last week when a popular Western blogger in Thailand posted Barnes’s version of the incident and the story spread on social media.
“I have been trying to contact the hotel to resolve this issue. Hopefully it will be resolved soon, ”Barnes said in an email Tuesday.
In an earlier statement to the media, he said that he has lost his teaching job and is afraid of going to jail. He was arrested earlier this month and released on 100,000 baht (approximately R52,000) bail after being imprisoned for two nights. His next court date is October 6.
The hotel, on Koh Chang, an island about 300 kilometers southeast of Bangkok, charged in its own statement Tuesday that Barnes was only at fault for refusing to retract his criticisms on travel sites before the hotel submitted its legal complaints against you.
According to the hotel, Barnes and a friend brought an alcoholic drink to dinner at the hotel restaurant on June 27. When informed that there was a 500 baht corkage fee, they complained and, after some negotiations with the food and beverage manager, they were allowed to pour from their own bottle without paying extra.
Barnes’s version is very similar, but he added that he later saw the food and beverage director, whom he called the restaurant manager, treat a Thai employee abusively, and so he decided to post his criticism.
“Don’t sleep here! Do not support the modern slavery of the Thais! “The most strident review began. He singled out the restaurant manager” from the Czech Republic “as” really bad. “Later posts were similar in tone.
Barnes said a review he sent to Tripadvisor was the basis for the hotel’s criminal complaint.
Tripadvisor said in an emailed statement Tuesday that the review initially submitted by Barnes was posted on its site, but was reported by the hotel and removed for a violation of Tripadvisor guidelines. Then he submitted a new review that was allowed.
“Tripadvisor is opposed to the idea that a traveler can be prosecuted for expressing opinions,” the company said. “Fortunately, globally, prosecutions like this are rare and hundreds of millions of travelers can freely express themselves without facing criminal charges.”
The company said it was continuing its investigation into the incident and had contacted the US embassy in Thailand.
But it wasn’t just a bad review that drew his ire, the hotel stated.
He accused Barnes of leaving “multiple fabricated and defamatory reviews” on Tripadvisor and Google, and said he filed his complaint with the police as a deterrent against new such posts.
He also took offense at the mention of slavery and deplored as potentially misleading Barnes’ call to potential visitors to “Avoid this place like it’s the Coronavirus!”
This last point may have been the deepest cut of all, because Thailand’s tourism industry has been devastated by travel bans resulting from the pandemic, and the sector is desperately trying to recover by promoting domestic travel.
“It is not clear to me in which parallel universe having a guest arrested and jailed for a negative review is considered good hospitality,” said Stuart McDonald in his weekly Travelfish online newsletter.
“There’s more to this story, of course, a lot comes down to ‘he said she said’ and false reviews. However, the most important aspect is Thailand’s insane defamation law, ”McDonald said.
Andy Hall, a UK activist who has faced a number of criminal and civil lawsuits for defamation and cybercrime in Thailand as a result of his work with migrant workers, echoed the point.
“These laws can easily be used maliciously or inappropriately in a variety of ways,” he said in an email. “Nobody wins from this situation where expensive cases drag on for years, which also clogs court systems.”
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