The Supreme Court has overturned the Appeal Court ruling, handing down a prison sentence against a 64-year-old woman who was dragged away by police officers after she protested during a visit by former Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to Ratchaburi Province in March 2023.

A 64-year-old Wanthana Othong was charged with three offences related to refusing to follow an officer’s order and causing a public disturbance. It was reported that she attempted to approach former Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and shouted words of criticism at him while he was visiting Ratchaburi’s Ban Pong District on 13 March 2023.

She was later tackled by two women police officers and dragged away by a group of plainclothes and uniformed police officers.

Wanthana sustained injuries, resulting in swollen and inflamed arms, as well as swollen and bruised legs, which forced her to cease working and caused a loss of income. Law enforcement officers reportedly also attempted to prevent the incident from being recorded by the media. She subsequently filed a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division headquarters against the officers. The complaint was forwarded to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and is still under investigation. The NACC said that it would wait for the verdict from the Ratchaburi District Court before proceeding.

In October 2023, the Ratchaburi District Court sentenced Wanthana to 6 months and 10 days in jail and fined her 1,000 baht. After being released on bail, she shaved her head in protest and filed an appeal.

The Appeal Court overturned a previous conviction made by the Ratchaburi District Court, dismissing all charges against her on the grounds that the police action violated her constitutional rights to freedom of expression.

They added that she was a single individual who refused to stand where the police told her to and was not likely to cause violence. As there was also no evidence that Wanthana was planning anything illegal or had weapons or sound amplifiers, the Court said that she should be considered a peaceful protester who the police had a duty to protect as required by the Public Assembly Act.

On Tuesday (16 December), Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reported that the Supreme Court overturned the Appeal Court ruling. The Court said that on that day, all the protesters gathered at the designated point. Wanthana was the only one who entered the prohibited area despite being warned by the police.

In addition, the witnesses confirmed that when the former PM was about to arrive, she ran towards him first. To prevent Wanthana from causing harm, the police had to take her out of the area, but during the incident, she injured the police officers.

It was concluded that she failed to abide by the assembly rules and also violated the law and the rights of others. 

Wanthana was given a two-year suspension under one year of probation. She was required to report to probation officers four times and perform 24 hours of community service.