The Thai Appeal Court has acquitted three people accused of royal defamation and sedition after they allegedly posted photos with political messages, on social media.

Toei, a PhD student at Prince of Songkla University, Alisa Bindusa, a staff member at Amnesty International Thailand, and Supakorn Khunchit, a university graduate, were charged with royal defamation, sedition, and violation of the Computer Crimes Act, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The police from Mueang Phatthalung Police Station accused them of driving around the city late at night on 24 November 2020 to take 20 photos of various locations. The photos were later captioned with political messages and posted on the different Facebook pages.

The three defendants denied all allegations, arguing that no part of the messages constituted a violation of the royal defamation law.

The Phatthalung Provincial Court ruled on 13 February 2022 that they were not guilty of all three charges on the grounds that the police evidence was insufficient.

According to the court, the police attempted to prove that the three defendants were a part of a group driving around the city to take such photos.

However, no clear evidence was presented. The police admitted that individuals in the group could not be identified. Significantly, none of the plaintiffs could confirm that the three defendants were involved in the Facebook pages where the photos were posted.

An examination of phone data indicated that one of the defendants was in Yala during the incident on 24 November 2020. Additionally, there was no credible evidence to suggest that the other two were at the scene.

Even if all of them had participated in political demonstrations in 2020, it was not unusual, and the right to protest is guaranteed in the Constitution. The court added that simply taking part in protests could not be used as evidence of guilt in this case.

The court asserted that it was the prosecution’s responsibility to prove that they committed the alleged crime. Since the police failed to present sufficient evidence and the defendants denied all charges, the court gave them the benefit of the doubt and acquitted them.

The Appeal Court ruled on Thursday (9 October) to uphold the initial verdict. Toei, Alisa, and Supakorn were acquitted of royal defamation, sedition, and violation of the Computer Crimes Act.