A 26-year-old graffiti artist has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for posting on Facebook a picture of himself pointing a shoe at an image of King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida.

Bang-oen (pseudonym), a 26-year-old artist and activist, was charged under the royal defamation law and Computer Crimes Act after a complaint was filed against him by Anon Klinkaew, leader of the ultra-royalist group People’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy, who has filed several royal defamation complaints against activists and netizens and has been involved in attacks on pro-democracy activists and citizen journalists.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said today (1 July) that the Criminal Court found him guilty on the grounds that he intended to defame the King. It noted that the image was posted on the King’s birthday, and although Bang-oen said he wanted to advertise the shoe, the Court said the content of the post is not about the shoe but about the image behind the shoe, and noted that Bang-oen was not a shoes vendor. The Court also noted that he is interested in politics and is facing charges for a graffiti on the wall of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Bang-oen was sentenced to 3 years in prison, to be served consecutively with prison sentences given in other cases. He was later granted bail pending appeal.

This is the second royal defamation verdict against Bang-oen. In January, he was found guilty and sentenced to 3 years in prison for posting an image of the King and other royal family members with the caption ‘Lunatic, Power, Black Magic’ as his Facebook cover photo. The image was altered by masks covering the faces.

In March 2023, Bang-oen was arrested for spray-painting an anarchist symbol and the number 112 with a strike through it, signifying a protest against the royal defamation law, onto the wall of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. He was charged under the Act on Ancient Monuments, Antiques, Objects of Art, and National Museums, and the Public Cleanliness Act. He was sentenced to eight months in prison.