Insulting The King Through Social Media, Former Thai Civil Servant Imprisoned For 43 Years

JAKARTA - A Thai court sentenced a former civil servant to a record 43 years and six months imprisonment for violating state law on insulting the King. Activists see the record-breaking sentence as the longest imprisonment for such a case as a message to young people trying to shake up the monarchy.

The Bangkok Criminal Court handed down 29 charges to the woman named Anchan. He is deemed to have violated the country's lese majeste law. As a result, he has uploaded audio clips to Facebook and YouTube with comments deemed critical of the monarchy, Thailand's group of Human Rights Lawyers said.

In fact, the court initially announced a sentence of 87 years in prison. However, the number of confinement was reduced by half because he confessed his actions. The sentence that came out amidst a wave of protests against the monarchy immediately drew strong reactions from human rights groups.

"Today's court ruling is shocking and sends a dire signal that not only will criticism of the monarchy not be tolerated, but it will also be severely punished," said Sunai Phasuk, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

As it is known that violating the Thai lese majeste Law - known as Article 112 - is punishable by three to 15 years in prison per indictment. The law is controversial not only because it has been used to punish simple things like liking Facebook posts but also because anyone - not just the royal family and authorities - can file a complaint.

During the last 15 years of political unrest in Thailand, the law has often been used as a political weapon as well as personal revenge. Public criticism of the monarchy, however, has been extremely rare to date.

But that has changed in the past year, when young people both called for democracy and pushed for reform of the monarchy, which many Thais have long regarded as an almost sacred institution. Protesters say the institution is irresponsible and holds too much power.

The authorities initially released many comments and criticism without accusation to the protesters. Then since November, the state apparatus has arrested about 50 people and charged them with lese majeste.

Senior Human Rights Watch researcher Sunai Phasuk said the sentence was like sending a message. "It can be seen that the Thai authorities are using the prosecution of the lese majeste as their last resort in responding to a youth-led democratic uprising that seeks to curb the king's power and keep him within the bounds of the constitutional order," he said.

Since King Maha Vajralongkorn came to the throne in 2016 after succeeding his father, he has told the government he does not want to see the lese majeste law used. But as mass demonstrations developed last year, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha warned that the lines had been crossed and the law would work.

The protest movement has lost steam since the arrests and since new restrictions on public gatherings were imposed following a spike in COVID-19 cases. Thai lawyers for human rights identified the woman sentenced on Tuesday as being in her 60s.

His case started six years ago, when anti-establishment sentiment grew after the 2014 military coup led by Prayuth. He was then held in prison from January 2015 to November 2018.

Anchan had denied the allegations at his first trial in military court. Then when his case was transferred to a criminal court, he agreed to admit his guilt in the hope that the court would sympathize with him. The reason is, Anchan only shares audio, does not upload or comment on it.

"I thought it was nothing. There are so many people sharing this content and listening to it. People (who create content) have been doing it for years, "said Anchan." So I didn't think much of it and was too confident and careful enough to realize at the time that it was inappropriate, "he said.

Previously, the record for the longest sentence under the lese majeste law was issued in 2017. At that time a military court sentenced a man to 35 years in prison for social media posts deemed to have defamed the monarchy.