Thai court issues 35-year sentence for insulting monarchy

BANGKOK – A military court in Thailand on Friday sentenced a man to 35 years in prison for social media posts deemed defamatory to the monarchy, a punishment believed to be the longest ever handed down for the offence of lese majeste.

The Bangkok military court sentenced a salesman to 70 years’ imprisonment on 10 counts of lese majeste, but halved the sentence because he had pleaded guilty, said Sorawut Wongsaranon of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. He identified the man only by the single name Wichai to protect his privacy because of the sensitive nature of the offence.

Lese majeste — insulting the monarchy — is punishable by three to 15 years’ imprisonment per incident. There has been a sharp rise in cases since a military took power in a coup in 2014 and decreed that lese majeste would be prosecuted in military courts.

The upsurge in cases came as Thailand was undergoing a royal transition, with the decline and death in October last year of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and his succession by his son, now King Maha Vajiralongkorn. However, critics of the law say it is often used as a tool of political repression.

The sentence handed Wichai for postings on Facebook appeared to be the longest of its kind. The previous record was believed to have been set in August 2015, when another man was found guilty of six counts of lese majeste for postings on Facebook and given a 60-year sentence, halved to 30 years.

Wichai’s apparent motive in posting the defamatory messages was to cause trouble for a former colleague he believed had cheated him, said a case summary on the website of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. He was arrested in December 2015.

Thailand’s lese majeste law is the world’s harshest and routinely draws criticism from the United Nations and rights groups.

“The lese majeste provision of the Thai Criminal Code is incompatible with international human rights law,” United Nations Special Rapporteur David Kaye said in a February statement, declaring that the law has “no place in a democratic country.”

The military government says the law is necessary to safeguard the monarchy and national security.

In recent months several Thai officials have threatened Facebook with legal sanctions if it failed to remove defamatory posts in a timely matter. Facebook says it complies after Thai courts order it to block illegal material.

In a separate case also Friday, the Supreme Court upheld a verdict sentencing another lese majeste convict to 2 1/2 years in prison for uploading an audio file of a political commentator deemed insulting to the monarchy.