Thai justice sentenced a man to 50 years in prison this Thursday for insulting the royal family, the highest penalty in history for violating strict lese majeste lawsreported a group of human rights lawyers.
In an appeal, the judges extended by 22 years the verdict of a court in Chiang Rai (north) that last year had sentenced the man to 28 years in prison, said the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (ATDH).
Mongkol Thirakot, 30, was found guilty of eleven offenses during appealthey stated in a statement.
Thirakot, owner of an online clothing store, He was prosecuted for 27 Facebook posts considered defamatory against the king and his family.
“This is the longest sentence for lese majeste that we are aware of”wrote ATDH on the social network X.
Background: a woman was sentenced to 43 years for insulting the Thai monarchy
The previous record, 43 years old, dates back to January 2021, was against a woman for audio messages hostile to the monarchy on social networks.
The Thai lese majeste law, considered one of the most severe in the world of its kindpunishes any insult against the King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his family.
The 2020 and 2021 pro-democracy demonstrations in Thailand, in which tens of thousands of people participated, sought to abolish that law among other reforms.
More than 250 activists have been charged under the lese majeste law since the start of that protest movement.according to ATDH.
One of the leaders of the demonstrations, pro-democracy lawyer Arnon Nampa, saw his four-year sentence for lese majeste increased on Wednesday by another four years by the appeals court.
Source: Ambito
