A 59-year-old farmer from Phetchabun was sentenced yesterday (4 August) to 1 year and 6 months in prison on a royal defamation charge for sharing a Facebook post.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Homdaeng (pseudonym) was charged with royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for sharing a post from a Facebook page on 17 October 2020.

TLHR said that the post demanded that the monarch should be under the Constitution and the law. Homdaeng did not add a caption to the post when he shared it.

He decided to plead guilty. The Criminal Court sentenced him to 3 years in prison, reduced to 1 year and 6 months because he confessed.

The Court did not suspend his sentence because he was already 55 when he committed the offence and should have known what the late King Bhumibol and his son King Vajiralongkorn had done for the country. It said that he should have checked whether the content of the post is true and think about it before sharing, and that he shared the post without self-restraint, showing his disrespect for the monarchy. His action affected other Thais’ feelings and could lead to conflict in society.

Homdaeng filed for appeal. Yesterday (4 August), the Appeal Court ruled to uphold the Criminal Court’s verdict. It dismissed his defence that he is old, unfamiliar with social media, and did not intend to defame the King because he pleaded guilty and did not bring up this defence during his trial.

It did not further reduce his sentence or suspend it because the post defamed the King, affected national security, and caused conflict. It also said that the sentence given by the Criminal Court is the legal minimum sentence and is already appropriate.

Homdaeng’s lawyer filed a bail request pending appeal to the Supreme Court. However, the Criminal Court forwarded his bail request to the Supreme Court. He will be detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison until the Supreme Court grants him bail.