A pro-democracy activist has been sentenced to 46 years in prison for royal defamation, the longest sentence ever given for the charge, after the Supreme Court reduced a 50-year sentence given by the Appeal Court.

Mongkhon “Busbas” Thirakot, a 32-year-old Chiang Rai-based activist, was charged with royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for 27 Facebook posts made between 2 – 11 March 2021, including messages referring to royal images, sharing video clips and foreign news reports about the Thai monarchy, as well as sharing and adding captions to posts from Somsak Jeamteerasakul’s Facebook page.

On 26 January 2023, the Chiang Rai provincial Court found him guilty on 14 of 27 counts and sentenced him to 28 years in prison.  It ruled that 13 of the posts did not constitute an offence under the royal defamation law because they did not refer to a specific person or were not defamatory.

On 18 January 2024, however, the Appeal Court found Mongkhon guilty of an additional 11 charges because he used profanity and posted parodies and disrespectful images of the King, which defamed and damaged the King’s reputation in a way which could not be considered general criticism or symbolic display of protest.

The Appeal Court also ruled that nine posts referring to King Bhumibol, which the Court of First Instance found Mongkhon not guilty, also constituted an offence under the royal defamation law. It cited a Supreme Court ruling from 2013 that the royal defamation law also covers deceased monarchs.

For two other posts which did not refer to specific kings, the Appeal Court also found Mongkhon guilty, ruling that his intention to defame the King was clear.

Accordingly, the Appeal Court sentenced Mongkhon to 50 years in prison, longer than a sentence given to Anchan Preelert, who received 43 years and 6 months in prison for royal defamation. She was released on 27 August after becoming eligible for a Royal Pardon Decree issued on 29 July 2025.

On 11 December, the Supreme Court reduced Mongkhon’s sentence to 46 years in prison without suspension - the longest ever given for a royal defamation conviction.

Mongkhon has been detained at the Chiang Rai Central Prison since 18 January 2024.  He has never been granted bail on the grounds that his lengthy sentence made him a flight risk.

Apart from this case, Mongkhon has been dealing with two other royal defamation cases resulting from Facebook posts. In one, he was sentenced to four years and six months in prison, while the other, filed against him by Anon Klinkaew, head of the ultra-royalist group People’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy, is still under investigation.