The Thanyaburi Provincial Court yesterday (8 November) dismissed a royal defamation charge filed against student activist Nutchanon Pairoj for a book of speeches given by protest leaders in 2020.

Nutchanon Pairoj 
(File photo. Source: iLaw)

The book was published by the student activist group United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration.  It contained the scripts for speeches on monarchy reform given by activists Anon Nampa, Panupong Jadnok, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, and Parit Chiwarak at protests in August 2020.

On 19 September 2020, the police intercepted a truck carrying over 45,000 copies of the book on a street in Khlong Luang, Pathumthani. Without presenting a search warrant they confiscated the books, which were being brought to a protest at Thammasat University.  They stated that they needed to check the texts for “treasonous” content.

Nutchanon, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat, was subsequently charged with royal defamation. He was later indicted on the grounds that several passages in the book and the 10-point demands for monarchy reform were insulting towards the King.

Nutchanon’s defense was that he was not involved in the publication process and that the book does not contain any speech he gave. He also noted that several people were on the truck, but he was the only person charged.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that, yesterday (8 November), the Thanyaburi Provincial Court dismissed all charges against Nutchanon. It ruled that, although the content of the book constitutes an offence under the royal defamation law, Nutchanon did not give any of the speeches and there was no evidence that he was the book’s owner or publisher. Because the books did not contain ISBN numbers or the address of the printing house, the Court ordered their confiscation, however.