The Civil Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed against historian Nattapol Chaiching and his publisher, Same Sky Books, over two books based on Nattapol’s PhD thesis about Thai politics during the Cold War period, on the grounds that the plaintiff does not have the standing to file the lawsuit.

Mom Rajawongse Priyanandana Rangsit, a granddaughter of Rangsit Prayurasakdi, Prince of Chai Nat, filed a defamation lawsuit against Nattapol, Same Sky Books, its editor-in-chief, and the editors of the two books, demanding 50 million baht in damages. She alleges that Nattapol’s books “Dream the Impossible Dream” (“ขอฝันใฝ่ในฝันอันเหลือเชื่อ”) and “The Junta, the Lords, and the Eagle” (“ขุนศึก ศักดินา พญาอินทรี”) contain misleading information about her grandfather, damaging his reputation.

Same Sky Books posted on its Facebook page last Wednesday (13 November) that the Civil Court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the content of the thesis and books were not about MR Priyanandana and would not cause misunderstanding about her.

The ruling said that since the Prince is already dead, a lawsuit cannot be filed claiming damage to the reputation of a deceased person and that no damage was done to MR Priyanandana as the Prince’s granddaughter. It also noted that MR Priyanandana would not know what the facts are and that the events in question took place before she was born, so the content of the books would not be damaging to her.

The Court noted that the plaintiff’s claim that a protest was held during which red paint was thrown onto a statute of the Prince, and another was held demanding a change to the name of Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, one of Bangkok’s major roads named for a princess who married the Prince’s eldest son. However, the Court said that there is no evidence that the protests were held as a result of the content of the thesis and books and so are irrelevant.

Finally, the Court ruled that MR Priyanandana has no standing to file the lawsuit, and so there is no need for the court to consider other issues in the suit.

Political scientist Kullada Kesboonchoo Mead, who supervised Nattapol’s PhD thesis, and Chulalongkorn University, the institution where Nattapol completed his PhD and the copyright holder of his thesis, were originally listed as defendants in the lawsuit. The Court dismissed the suit against the university on the grounds that the university is not connected to the case, while the suit against Kullada was later dropped after a discussion between Kullada and the Rangsit clan, during which she explained her role in her former advisee’s thesis and that she should not be sued if the thesis was done properly according to the academic process.

Thanapol Eawsakul, editor-in-chief of Same Sky Books, said that the defendants have always maintained that the Prince’s grandchild cannot file a lawsuit. If the Court had considered this issue first, the suit would have been dismissed in 2021, when it was filed. However, the case was dragged out this long because the court insisted that they wait for a verdict.

He said that having to fight the case in court caused the defendants time and money, and alleged that they were attacked by an information operation group who use information about the case against them. The lawsuit also damaged academic freedom, and he is concerned that it would lead to self-censorship.

“It’s obviously going to have an effect,” Thanapol said. “I mean, no one who sees it would want to waste time. It takes a lot of your energy, and it will lead to self-censorship, while the other side can do anything they want.”