Five pro-democracy activists have been sentenced to prison for violation of the Emergency Decree over an incident that took place in 2023. They were later released on bail after being detained for one day pending the Appeal Court’s decision.

Noppasin, Sittichai, Chiraphat, Bang-oen, and Somchai were charged with violation of the Emergency Decree after they allegedly staged a protest near the Grand Palace on 9 May 2023, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

During the incident, they raised flags with messages that included “repeal the royal defamation law”, “release our friends”, and an anarchist symbol, while riding motorcycles around the area.

They acknowledged the charge on 19 September 2023 and denied the allegation.

The police stated that the five activists were found riding three motorcycles around the roads surrounding the Grand Palace in the middle of the night with the intention of calling for the repeal of the royal defamation law.

The police believed that activists shared a common intention in carrying flags to publicly express their opinions. They also rode motorcycles in a procession, showing that they intended to stage a public assembly. A prosecution witness also observed that the activity was considered a new form of public assembly.

However, the defendants argued that their actions were not a public assembly, citing a provision in the Public Assembly Act, which defines the public assembly as a gathering of individuals in public place to express their petition, support, opposition or opinion on any matter to the public and any individual can attend such assembly freely regardless of whether such assembly composing of marching or not.

The Criminal Court ruled on Tuesday (25 November) that riding motorcycles to call for the repeal of the royal defamation in this case amounted to a public assembly and found that they also failed to ask for permission as requested by the law.

They were sentenced to two months in prison. All were detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison pending the Appeal Court’s decision. The Appeal Court later granted them provisional bail on the following day (26 November) with 5,000 baht as security.