Thai courts sentence lawmaker, musician to prison for royal insults

By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Chayut Setboonsarng

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai courts on Monday sentenced an activist musician and an opposition lawmaker to prison terms for insulting the monarchy, their lawyers said, the latest individuals to have broken one of the country's lese laws -the strictest majesties in the world.

The law that shields Thailand's powerful monarchy from criticism carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison for each offense and is one of the harshest of its kind in the world.

Chonthicha Jangrew, 31, a parliamentarian from the Move Forward party, was sentenced to a two-year term for a 2021 speech at an anti-government protest. But she was released on bail pending an appeal, her lawyer, Marisa Pidsaya, told Reuters.

Another court sentenced musician Chaiamorn Kaewwiboonpan, 35, to four years in prison for burning a portrait of King Maha Vajiralongkorn. He had been convicted of arson, lèse majesté and computer crimes.

A legal aid group, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, said Chaiamorn was seeking bail and intended to appeal the decision.

Both have denied insulting the monarchy and the courts have not yet published a ruling on the sentences handed down.

The palace does not generally comment on the law.

More than 272 people have been charged under the law since 2020, 17 of whom are in pre-trial detention, says legal aid group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which compiles data and has defended many of those charged.

In 2021, a 65-year-old woman was sentenced to 43 years in prison for spreading messages on social media critical of the monarchy, while a man imprisoned in 2023 for 28 years was sentenced to 22 additional years in January after appealing a verdict on his social networks. articles on the crown.

He is now appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.

LEGAL BATTLES

Chonthicha won a seat in the House last year with the popular opposition Move Forward party, which holds the most seats in Parliament but faces its own legal battles, after campaigning to amend the insult law royals, which a court ordered him to remove from his program.

One of its lawmakers, Rukchanok Srinork, was sentenced to six years in prison last year for social media posts criticizing the monarchy.

Move Forward faces disbandment after a court ruled the proposed amendment was unconstitutional and a covert effort to undermine Thailand's system of governance, in which the king is head of state.

Move Forward denies this, saying it wants to prevent the law from being used as a political weapon.

A separate complaint filed with another agency seeks lifetime bans on 44 current and former lawmakers because of the proposed amendment.

After his arrest in 2021, musician Chaiamorn admitted to setting fire to the king's portrait as a gesture of defiance and also to express his frustration over the detention of his fellow activists for royal insult.

These two decisions come two weeks after the death of activist Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom in pre-trial detention on charges including royal insult.

She was on a partial hunger strike, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Chayut Setboonsarng; editing by Martin Petty and Clarence Fernandez)