Student activist and monarchy reform advocate Nutthanit “Baipor” Duangmusit has been sentenced to 4 years in prison on charges of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for 2 Facebook posts from 2022 about the budget allocated to the monarchy.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that the Criminal Court on Friday (29 August) found her guilty of 2 counts of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes, ruling that the posts were defamatory because they accused King Vajiralongkorn of wasting taxpayer’s money.

Nutthanit was sentenced to 6 years in prison, reduced to 4 because she gave useful testimony. The Court also noted that it reduced her sentence because she is still a student and has performed an act of public service by registering as an organ donor.

She was later granted bail pending appeal on a 200,000-baht security.

She was arrested in April 2022 along with two other activists then associated with the monarchy reform group Thaluwang while on their way to Cha Am, a beach town and popular tourist destination in Phetchaburi. They were charged for sharing posts from the Thaluwang Facebook page about the amount of money budgeted to the monarchy.

Piyakul Wongsing, a member of the ultra-royalist group People's Centre to Protect the Monarchy, filed a complaint with the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) accusing the Thaluwang Facebook page administrators of defaming the King and bringing data into a computer system that affected national security. Piyakul later filed additional charges, accusing the three activists of royal defamation. The complaint led to their arrest.

TLHR noted that Nutthanit previously requested that the Court summon documents about the allocation of budget to the monarchy from parliament, the Secretariat of the Senate, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Bureau of the Royal Household for the defense to use as evidence. Her requests have all been denied.