Two detained pro-democracy activists, who face multiple royal defamation lawsuits, have been granted bail in a case over their speech on 1 February 2021. However, they remain in detention because they have been denied bail in other cases.

The two prominent activists, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa and Atthapol Buapat, have been detained since 8 September 2025 for protest speeches they made in front of the Phu Khiao Police Station and Phu Khiao School on 1 February 2021.

On that day, the Ratsadon group staged a protest, calling on the police to apologise to students who were intimidated by police officers after they registered for a Ratsadon On Tour camp, a forum for the exchange of opinions and discussions of problems in Thai society.

The Phu Khiao Provincial Court ruled that the two activists were guilty as charged and initially sentenced them to three years in prison. Jatupat was given an additional one year and three months in prison for repeating the offence, making the total sentence four years and six months.

Due to Jatupat’s helpful testimony, the court reduced his sentence to two years and 12 months, and Atthapol’s was reduced to two years in prison.

In September 2025, the Appeal Court upheld the verdict, and they have been denied bail since then. The two detained activists were detained at the Phu Khiao Prison and later transferred to the Bangkok Remand Prison to face trial in other cases.

After multiple bail requests in this case, the Supreme Court granted them provisional bail on Wednesday (11 March) on the grounds that they had previously been allowed bail without incident and did not pose a flight risk. They were required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and were not allowed to travel abroad.

Despite being granted bail, Jatupat and Atthapol must remain in detention, as the Court has yet to grant bail in their other cases, according to Thai Lawyers For Human Rights.

Jatupat faces another royal defamation charge, currently under trial. He was also charged with violating the Emergency Decree, for which he was sentenced to 24 days in prison, and with sedition. In the sedition case, the Court of First Instance sentenced him to two years and eight months in prison.

Atthapol faces two additional royal defamation charges: one currently on trial and another for which he was sentenced to three years in prison. He also faced three other charges related to pro-democracy protests.

Their lawyer has been filing bail requests in their other cases. On Friday (13 March), TLHR reported that the Appeal Court denied bail requests in two other cases against Atthapol, including one involving royal defamation. The Court cited flight risk.