BANGKOK – The former offense of the civil servant was sharing audio clips on social media that were considered critical of Thailand’s monarchy. The sentence, handed down on Tuesday by a criminal court in Bangkok, was more than 43 years in prison.
It was the longest sentence for violating Thailand’s notoriously harsh majesty law, which makes it a crime to defame senior members of the royal family, according to the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. The former civil servant, Anchan Preelert was sentenced to 87 years, but her prison sentence was cut in half because she agreed to plead guilty.
“The verdict of today’s court is shocking and sends a shivering signal that not only will criticism of the monarchy not be tolerated, it will also be severely punished,” said Sunai Phasuk, senior researcher in Thailand for Human Rights Watch.
Thailand has seen an increase in lèse-majesté cases since the end of last year, after more than two years during which Section 112 of the penal code, which applies to criticism of key royals, has not been applied at all. according to Thai legal groups. The three-year break came at the behest of King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, who wanted such proceedings to be suspended, according to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.
But that was before a protest movement broke out last year, targeting both the king and the prime minister. Protesters, who gathered in their thousands at street rallies, called for the royal family, one of the richest in the world, to come under the jurisdiction of Thailand’s constitution.
They demanded a thorough examination of the palace’s finances, as the king’s luxurious lifestyle contrasted sharply with the economic pain caused by the pandemic. And they campaigned for the removal of Mr. Prayuth, a former army general who came to power in a 2014 coup, promising to protect the royal family from ill-defined threats.
Last fall, protesters were scribbling graffiti on the streets of Bangkok denouncing King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his wives and lovers. It was an impressive development in a country where criticism of the monarch was usually limited to whispers and innuendo, full of denial.
In the past few weeks, dozens of Thais, including teenagers and students, have been accused of violating Section 112. With student-led protests abating amid a coronavirus outbreak in Thailand, human rights groups say the government is using the courts to silence some of the protesters.
“It can be seen that Thai authorities are using the lese majesty charge as a last resort in response to the youth-led democratic uprising that aims to restrict the king’s powers and keep him within the limits of constitutional government,” said Sunai. . “Thai authorities are trying to use a sledgehammer to put this genie back in the bottle.”
Even before the lèse-majesté law was revived in November, other legal mechanisms, including a computer crime law and a sedition law, were put in place against people who would have defamed or insulted royals. An obscure section of Thailand’s penal code, making “an act of violence against the queen’s freedom” punishable by life imprisonment, was applied for what appeared to be the first time, against protesters who shouted at a real motorcade.
Section 112 of the penal code considers insulting or defaming the king or his close relatives a crime punishable by three to 15 years in prison. Each charge is counted separately, which partly explains why Ms. Anchan’s prison sentence is so long.
The case against Ms. Anchan started before the authorities suspended the use of Section 112.
In 2015, the military junta led by then General Prayuth detained more than a dozen people, including Mrs. Anchan, who was accused of being part of an anti-monarchy network. They were accused of using social media to broadcast audio and video recordings seen as critical of then-king Bhumibol Adulyadej, the father of the current king, who was the longest-reigning monarch in the world when he died in 2016.
Bhumibol, known as Rama IX, frequently commuted long lèse-majesté prison sentences. But it is not clear whether his son, who has increased his control over the palace’s finances and expanded his military authority, will continue this tradition.
Although some of the people accused along with Ms. Anchan were quickly sentenced to years in prison by a military court, her case continued. Ms. Anchan, who worked in Thailand’s Revenue Department for about 30 years, was arrested from 2015 to 2018 pending trial, according to her legal team.
Pawinee Chumsri, one of Anchan’s lawyers, said they were planning an appeal. But Pawinee had little hope of a decline in these cases any time soon.
“The government has announced that it is going to impose the law of the majesty,” she said. “So I think we will see more and more 112 cases and verdicts, because that is the trend that the government is taking.”
Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting.