A 28-year-old man has been sentenced to prison for royal defamation over a comment on a Facebook page. He was later granted bail to appeal the case.

Sindhu (pseudonym), a 28-year-old salesperson, faced charges under the royal defamation and Computer Crime Act over allegedly writing a comment defamatory of the King and the Queen. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison, but due to his useful testimony, the sentence was reduced to 2 years without suspension, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).

The complaint against him was filed by Songchai Niamhom, leader of the ultra-royalist King Protection Group, a group active in the southern provinces. Members of the group are reported to have filed complaints, especially royal defamation charges, against ordinary people and politicians.

The indictment stated that in June 2022, a FB page, The MelaengtaD, posted a picture of the King and Queen with a message saying that all the annual amount of money from the government was always returned to the people. “The King and Queen have never received a salary or received an annual payment of 60 million baht from the government. All money is returned to the people. every baht, every satang.] After investigation, it was believed that Sindhu was the account owner. The public prosecutor accused him of writing the comment, “saving money to put in your mouth after your death,” said the comment.

Sidhu admitted that he was the account’s owner but testified that he could not access the account and was not the one who wrote the comment. In addition, according to the Technology Crime Suppression Division investigation, the alleged comment was not found. Meanwhile, a cyber security expert testified that the original post’s URL and that of the comment were not aligned with each other.

However, the court on Monday (28 October) was not convinced by Sindhu’s testimony, saying that he had no evidence to prove his testimony. The court also found that the content of the comment was intended to insult the King and Queen, sentencing Sindhu as charged without suspension.

TLHR reported that he was later granted bail with 200,000 baht as security to appeal the case.