BANGKOK – A court in Thailand on Tuesday sentenced a former official to a record jail term of 43 years and six months for violating the country’s strict law of insulting or defaming the monarchy, lawyers said.
Bangkok’s criminal court found the woman guilty on 29 counts of violating the country’s lese of majesty law for posting audio clips on Facebook and YouTube criticizing the monarchy, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group said.
The court initially announced her sentence as 87 years, but cut it in half because she pleaded guilty to the crimes, the group said.
The verdict, which comes amid a sustained protest movement that has received unprecedented public criticism of the monarchy, was quickly condemned by rights groups.
“Today’s court ruling is shocking and sends a chilling signal that not only will criticism of the monarchy not be tolerated but severely punished,” said Sunai Phasuk, a senior investigator for the Human Rights Watch group.
Violation of the Thai Majesty Law – commonly known as Section 112 – is punishable by three to 15 years in prison per count. The law is controversial, not only because it is used to penalize things as simple as liking a post on Facebook, but also because anyone – not just royals or authorities – can file a complaint that would put the accused in a court for years. legal proceedings.
During the last 15 years of political turmoil in Thailand, the law has often been used as a political weapon and in personal vendettas. However, genuine public criticism of the monarchy was extremely rare until recently.
That changed over the past year, when young protesters calling for democratic reforms also called for reform of the monarchy, which has long been regarded by many Thais as an almost sacred institution. The protesters have said the institution is unaccountable and has too much power in what should be a democratic constitutional monarchy.
Authorities initially left much of the commentary and criticism without charge, but since November have arrested about 50 people and charged them with lese majesty.
Sunai said Tuesday’s sentence was likely to send a message.
“It is clear that the Thai authorities are using lese majesty prosecution as their last resort in response to the youth-led democracy uprising that seeks to curb the king’s power and keep him within the bounds of constitutional rule. Political tensions in Thailand will now turn from bad to worse, ”he said.
After King Maha Vajralongkorn ascended the throne in 2016 following the death of his father, he informed the government that he did not want the law on lese majesty to be applied. But as protests grew last year and criticism of the monarchy grew harder, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha warned that a line had been crossed and that the law would be used.
The protest movement has lost steam since the arrests and since new restrictions on public gatherings were introduced following an increase in coronavirus cases.
Thai human rights lawyers identified the woman convicted Tuesday by her first name Anchan only and said she was in her mid-60s.
Her case dates back to six years ago, when sentiment against the establishment grew after a military coup in 2014 led by Prayuth. She was in prison from January 2015 to November 2018.
She denied the charges when her case was first heard in military court, where lese majesty offenses were prosecuted for a period after the coup. When her case was turned over to the criminal court, she pleaded guilty in the hope that the court would be sympathetic to her actions because she had only shared, not posted or commented on the audio, she told local media on her arrival on Tuesday. at the court. .
‘I thought it was nothing. There were so many people sharing and listening to this content. The man (who created the content) had done it for so many years, ”said Anchan. “So I didn’t really think about it and was too confident and wasn’t careful enough at the time to realize that it wasn’t appropriate.”
She said she had worked as a civil servant for 40 years and was arrested a year before her retirement and would lose her pension on conviction.
What used to be the longest sentence of lese majesty was handed down in 2017, when a military court sentenced a man to 35 years in prison for social media posts deemed defamatory of the monarchy. The man, a salesman, was initially sentenced to 70 years, but was cut in half after pleading guilty.