Offending Text
The passage in question was from Nicolaides' 2005 self-published novel, Verisimilitude. Is the truth, the truth? which sold seven copies. The book was described in a news release as "an uncompromising assault on the patrician values of the monarchy", and as "savage, ruthless and unforgiving" in revealing a society "obsessed with Western affluence and materialism." The paragraph which resulted in his imprisonment discusses the personal life of a fictional prince:
- From King Rama to the Crown Prince, the nobility was renowned for their romantic entanglements and intrigues. The Crown Prince had many wives major and minor with a coterie of concubines for entertainment. One of his recent wives was exiled with her entire family, including a son they conceived together, for an undisclosed indiscretion. He subsequently remarried with another woman and fathered another child. It was rumoured that if the prince fell in love with one of his minor wives and she betrayed him, she and her family would disappear with their name, familial lineage and all vestiges of their existence expunged forever.
Many Western media outlets, including CNN, refused to publish the substance of the allegation for fear of reprisals against their staff.
Nicolaides says that he sent letters to the Royal Bureau of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Culture to get a legal opinion on the passage, but did not receive a reply.
Read more about this topic: Harry Nicolaides
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