A court in Thailand has sentenced a former civil servant to a record prison term of 43 years and six months for breaching the country’s strict law on insulting or defaming the monarchy, officials say.
The Bangkok Criminal Court found the woman guilty on 29 counts of violating the country’s lese majeste law for posting audio clips to Facebook and YouTube with comments deemed critical of the monarchy, the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said.
The sentence, which comes amid an ongoing protest movement that has seen unprecedented public criticism of the monarchy, was swiftly condemned by rights groups.
“Today’s court verdict is shocking and sends a spine-chilling signal that not only criticisms of the monarchy won’t be tolerated, but they will also be severely punished,” Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, said.
Violating Thailand’s lese majeste law – known widely as Article 112 – is punishable by three to 15 years’ imprisonment per count.
During Thailand’s last 15 years of political unrest, use of the law has frequently been seen as a political weapon.
Public criticism of the monarchy has increased over the past year, when young protesters demanding reform of the royal family, which has long been regarded as an almost sacred institution by many Thais.
Since November authorities have arrested about 50 people and charged them with lese majeste.
“Thai authorities are using lese majeste prosecution as their last-resort measure in response to the youth-led democracy uprising that seeks to curb the king’s powers,” Sunai said.
“Thailand’s political tensions will now go from bad to worse.”
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights identified the woman sentenced on Tuesday only by her first name, Anchan, and said she was in her mid-sixties.
The court initially announced her sentence as 87 years, but reduced it by half because she pleaded guilty in the hope the court would have sympathy for her actions, because she had only shared the audio, not posted or commented on it, she told local media on her arrival at court.
“I thought it was nothing. There were so many people who shared this content and listened to it,” Anchan said.
What is believed to have previously been the longest lese majeste sentence was issued in 2017, when a military court sentenced a man to 35 years for social media posts deemed defamatory to the monarchy.
