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BANGKOK (AP) — A court docket in Thailand convicted and sentenced a just lately elected lawmaker Wednesday to 6 years in jail for defaming the monarchy underneath a controversial legislation that guards the royal establishment.
Human Rights Watch decried the ruling, saying it “violated her rights to freedom of expression protected underneath worldwide human rights legislation.”
Rukchanok Srinork arrived for her court docket listening to within the capital, Bangkok, as her fellow lawmakers had been convening in Parliament.
“I submitted a request to postpone (the listening to) as a result of right now the new parliament convenes for its first session, however the court docket refused. So I got here to listen to the decision,” she advised reporters, standing subsequent to her celebration chief, who was there to lend help.
She was charged over two posts she allegedly shared two years in the past on X, the social media platform then often called Twitter. One tweet reportedly defamed the monarchy over hyperlinks to a coronavirus vaccine, and an anti-monarchy quote by 18th-century French thinker Denis Diderot was allegedly retweeted.
Rukchanok was sentenced to 3 years on every rely underneath Article 112 of Thailand’s Felony Code, often called lese majeste, which protects the monarchy. She was additionally convicted underneath the Pc Crime Act, whose broad provisions masking on-line actions have been criticized as a menace to freedom of expression.
Late Wednesday, the court docket granted her launch on bail of THB 500,000 (USD 14,200). If it had been denied, she would have misplaced her lawmaker standing instantly.
The parliamentarian denied she posted the tweets, calling the case towards her “weak.” The plaintiff reportedly supplied screenshots of the posts, however the police couldn’t discover the hyperlinks.
Rukchanok, 29, received a seat in Might’s common election, a part of a shock victory for the progressive Transfer Ahead Social gathering that shook Thai politics. The win didn’t translate into energy because of the celebration being in the end outmaneuvered by influential conservative forces. She was initially a defender of the conservative institution earlier than switching sides and becoming a member of the progressive motion.
“The prosecution of an opposition member of parliament for 2 tweets shouldn’t be solely an appalling violation of free expression but additionally sends a chilling message to different outspoken opposition celebration members to maintain silent,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, mentioned Thursday in an emailed assertion. “The Thai authorities ought to quash this sentence and stop prosecuting different instances underneath the lese majeste legislation.”
Critics say the lese majeste legislation is usually used to suppress political dissent. The legislation makes insulting the monarch, his fast household, and the regent punishable by as much as 15 years in jail.
The monarchy and the legal guidelines that defend it have come underneath stress lately. In 2020, tens of hundreds of predominantly younger folks marched in a number of Thai cities, demanding constitutional reform and the abolition of the legislation towards royal defamation. The federal government’s response was an unprecedented slew of prosecutions.
The advocacy group Thai Legal professionals for Human Rights says that since early 2020, greater than 200 folks—lots of them scholar activists—have been charged with violating Article 112.
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By Jerry Harmer, Related Press
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