Three years ago, Thai legislator Chonthicha Jangrew made a speech at an anti-government protest. Now she has been sentenced to two years in jail for insulting the monarchy. Jangrew was handed out the sentence by a court on May 27. She is a legislator from the Opposition Move Forward party in Thailand which has one of the toughest laws shielding the monarchy from criticism.
The lèse-majesté laws in Thailand are so severe that a person can be sentenced to up to 15 years in jail for insulting the monarchy. The lawmaker has denied the charges of insulting the monarchy and has been granted bail pending an appeal against the decision.
Besides Jangrew, another court in Thailand sentenced musician Chaiamorn Kaewwiboonpan to four years in prison for burning a portrait of King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The musician was found guilty of arson, lèse-majesté and computer crimes.
MOVE FORWARD PARTY FIGHTING MANY BATTLES
The Move Forward party, to which Jangrew belongs, has the most seats in Parliament but also has legal battles to fight. The Party campaigned to change the lèse-majesté laws but a court ruled against that plan earlier this year, and instead blamed the Party for trying to violate the constitution. In January, the Constitutional Court ordered the Move Forward Party to put an end to its campaign calling it ‘damaging to the monarchy’.
The party also faces dissolution after a court ruled against its amendment plan, calling it a hidden effort to undermine Thailand’s system of governance, in which the king is the head of state. The Party has said it wasn’t trying to insult the monarchy. It wants to prevent the law from being misused as a political weapon.
HOW LESE-MAJESTE LAW HAS BEEN USED
Last year, Rukchanok Srinork, a legislator from the Move Forward party, was sentenced to 6 years in jail for social media posts critical of the monarchy. Legal aid group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, that defends many accused under the stringent law, claims that more than 272 people have been charged under the lèse-majesté law since 2020, 17 of them held in pre-trial detention. Two weeks ago, activist Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom died in pre-trial detention on charges that include royal insult, as per Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
In 2021, a 65-year-old woman was sentenced to 43 years for circulating posts on social media critical of the monarchy.
In 2023, a man was jailed for 28 years. He got an additional 22 years in January after appealing a verdict on his social media posts about the monarchy.
