A Swiss man was jailed for ten years yesterday for insulting the King of Thailand by spraying posters of the monarch with black paint.

Oliver Jufer, 57, declined the possibility of a suspended sentence by doing community service, telling probation officers: “I’d rather go home to Switzerland.”

He was sentenced to ten years on five counts of lãse majesté by the court in the northern capital of Chiang Mai. Judge Phitsanu Tanbukalee said: “These are very serious charges but I have halved the sentence because the defendant pleaded guilty.”

Switzerland said that it would not seek Jufer’s release yesterday. “We note that the Thai legislation on the basis of which our compatriot was tried is applied with great rigour,” said Jean Philippe Jeannerat, a spokesman for the Swiss Foreign Ministry.

Jufer, from Zurich, was arrested in Chiang Mai on December 5, when Thais were celebrating the 79th birthday of their revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The bars in the city were closed out of respect for the world’s longest-reigning monarch and Jufer was angry that he could not buy a beer. The court heard that he bought black spray paint and defaced five images of the King Jufer sought to persuade the court that he was mentally disturbed but three pyschiatrists who examined him said that he was of sound mind.

Thai police said that he confessed quickly to the crime, saying that he had drunk 12 cans of beer at home.

Jufer was interviewed by probation and welfare staff to see whether he was willing to do community service, perhaps in one of the many royal projects helping hill-tribe people in northern Thailand. The former engineer and Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealer replied: “I don’t want to work. I’d rather go home to Switzerland.”

After the sentence was handed down Jufer, who retired to Thailand on a SwFr3,200 (£1,400) monthly disability pension, said: “Its rather high isn’t it? Do you think they will reduce it?

He was led from court in chains and taken to Chiang Mai jail, where he he will share a cell with six foreigners. His case has cast a spotlight on the Thai law of lãse majesté. Less than 150 years ago the country’s monarch was treated as a deity and even to look upon the face of the King was punishable by death.

More recently it has been used by politicians against each other but King Bhumibol Adulyadej said last year that he should be subject to criticism, which he welcomed because he was human.

Jufer’s arrest was barely mentioned by Thai newspapers out of respect for the King.

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