An activist has been indicted on a royal defamation charge for flashing the three-finger salute at a graduation ceremony in December 2022.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said today (28 November) that the Khon Kaen public prosecutor has ruled to indict Songpol “Yajai” Sonthirak, an activist from the Thalufah group, on a royal defamation charge filed against him in April 2023.
Songpol was charged for flashing the three-finger “Hunger Games” salute, a well-known resistance symbol used by activists protesting the 2014 military coup and students in the 2020 pro-democracy movement, after receiving his degree certificate from Princess Sirindhorn, King Vajiralongkorn’s younger sister, during Khon Kaen University’s graduation ceremony on 20 December 2022.
The complaint against him was filed by Kamon Kitkasiwat, leader of a royalist group in Khon Kaen, who was at the time an MP candidate for the royalist Thai Pakdee Party.
Khon Kaen University reportedly paused its live broadcast of the graduation ceremony while Songpol and subsequent graduates from the Faculty of Law were receiving their certificates, and did not allow comments on the live broadcast after it resumed.
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