Two young Italians who were
arrested in Thailand for pulling down several national flags and
throwing them to the ground this week have been convicted and
handed suspended sentences, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
Tobias Gamper, 20, and Ian Gerstgrasser, 18, will remain in a
cell at a police station in the town of Krabi for the time
being, pending deportation, sources said.
The punishments handed down on Tuesday will be made public
only on Wednesday but suspended sentences are not possible with
prison terms of over two years.
According to the deportation procedure, the pair will be
handed over to the Thai immigration police in the next few days
and then taken to a temporary detention centre in Bangkok before
being expelled.
They are likely to be deported in a few weeks' time.
They were arrested at their guesthouse after being caught on
CCTV tearing down five Thai flags from the awnings of some shops
in Krabi on Saturday night.
The Italians, who were made to apologize in a video, tried to
justify their actions by saying they were drunk after spending
all night in a pub.
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