Human rights lawyer and activist Anon Nampa has been sentenced to 4 years in prison on a royal defamation charge for 3 Facebook posts criticizing the use of the royal defamation law against critics of the monarchy and calling for monarchy reform.

Anon Nampa

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that the Criminal Court today (17 January) found Anon guilty of royal defamation on the grounds that the posts contain false information and are defamatory against King Vajiralongkorn. Even though the posts only referred to "the monarchy," the Court ruled that they are intended to be about King Vajiralongkorn and to cause a misunderstanding that the King took national property for himself and that he has been wasting taxpayer's money.

The Court also said that it ruled that the posts refer to King Vajiralongkorn because the defendant has requested documents on the King's travel schedule to be used as evidence and it believes that there would be no need to request the documents if the posts do not refer to the King. Additionally, it cited Anon's testimony that he wanted legislations related to King Vajiralongkorn amended so that it is the same as it was during the reign of King Bhumibol.

Two of the posts, made on 1 January 2021, say that the royal defamation law should not be allowed to be used to silence critics of the monarchy and that people should be able to talk about the monarchy when it comes to public matters even if they do not praise it. One of the posts also asks how losing faith in the monarchy could be an offense and if people have to believe in the monarchy even if its members are not behaving appropriately.

The third post, on 3 January 2021, criticized royalist groups for trying to silence dissidents despite questions raised about the monarchy. Anon wrote that royalists are refusing to see the problem even though the monarchy is causing problems, such as by lavishly spending the government’s money. He also asked if people would find it acceptable if the Prime Minister or a government official moved to Germany and flew back and forth between Thailand and Germany with an entourage.

TLHR said that Anon admitted to making the posts, but said that he was calling for reform to make the monarchy better and more democratic. He also said during the trial that he was not talking about a specific monarch and that the content of the posts refers to those working in the justice system that enforce the royal defamation law. He was also criticizing the use of the royal defamation law to silence dissent and questions about the role of the monarchy in Thai politics and its use of taxpayer’s money.

The complaint against Anon was filed by Nangnoi Assawakittikorn, a former member of the royalist group Thailand Help Centre for Cyberbullying Victims. Anon was later charged and indicted for royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act.

TLHR noted that Anon’s lawyer requested that the court summoned documents to be used as evidence, including King Vajiralongkorn’s travel schedule and records of government budget allocated to the monarchy. However, the court did not summon these documents and when the lawyer requested that the trial be postponed until the documents were available, the court said that they did not file a request during evidence examination and so it will not postpone the trial or request the documents. This ruling was made despite Anon and his lawyer informing the court that Anon was in prison when the evidence examination hearing took place and so was prevented from filing a request.

Anon has been detained pending appeal on another count of royal defamation since 26 September 2023 and has been repeatedly denied bail. In protest of the detention of political prisoners, he has stopped filing for bail and has requested that his bail on all charges be revoked.

Anon is facing 14 counts of royal defamation for speeches given at pro-democracy protests and posts made on his social media accounts. The Court of First Instance has so far ruled on two counts of the charge.

Since Anon was previously sentenced to 4 years in prison on a royal defamation charge for a speech given at the 14 October 2020 protest, he is now facing a total of 8 years in prison.