Thailand appeals court upholds royal defamation prison sentence for progressive lawmaker

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BANGKOK (AP) — An appeals court in Thailand on Tuesday upheld a two-year prison sentence for a lawmaker from the progressive People’s Party for defaming the monarchy in a speech she made four years ago.

The court in Bangkok granted Chonthicha Jangrew’s request for bail, which was set at 150,000 baht ($4,600). Chonthicha said she would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. If she had been denied bail, she would have been immediately removed from her position as an elected Member of Parliament.

The court’s action, though expected, underlines that Thailand's machinery of state remains deeply conservative, despite a recent change of government and the opposition People’s Party’s standing as the biggest party in Parliament. Thailand’s political establishment is sensitive about any perceived threats to the status of the country’s monarchy.

Other recent appeals involving political activists have seen rulings that reversed the acquittal of lower courts or handed down longer prison sentences.

Chonthicha’s case is related to a speech she gave during a 2021 political rally in which she demanded the release of all political prisoners. She was found guilty for parts of the speech alleging that the then-government, led by Prayuth Chan-ocha, changed a law to give more power to King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Chonthicha, popularly known by her nickname Lookkate, was formally sentenced last year to three years in prison but that was reduced to two years because of her cooperation with the court.

Criticism of Thailand’s monarchy remains taboo and insulting or defaming key royal family members is punishable by up to 15 years in prison under the law commonly known as Article 112.

Ahead of the ruling, Chonthicha told journalists that her case was important because it highlighted to Thais and the world that the law suppresses freedom of opinion.

Tuesday’s ruling is the second recent legal setback for the 32-year-old lawmaker. Earlier this month, she was convicted in a separate case by the Bangkok Criminal Court and sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for an online post in 2020 that also concerned royal privileges.

Before being elected to Parliament in 2023, Chonthicha was a high-profile activist in the youth-dominated pro-democracy movement, which demanded democratic reform of several powerful institutions, including the monarchy.

She won her seat as a member of the progressive Move Forward Party, which topped the 2023 polls. However, the party failed to form a government and was later disbanded after being found to have violated the constitution by proposing to amend the lese majeste law. The party subsequently regrouped as the People’s Party.

Student-led pro-democracy demonstrations starting in 2020 had sought to bring changes to the lese majeste law, but protesters found themselves targets of prosecution under the same statute.

Critics say the law is frequently wielded as a tool to quash political dissent. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights says that more than 280 people, many of them student activists, have been charged with violating Article 112 since early 2020.