The Appeal Court today (16 August) ruled to uphold the guilty verdict against Atirut (last name withheld), a 29-year-old programmer charged with royal defamation for shouting at a royal motorcade.

Atirut was charged with royal defamation and resisting arrest for refusing to sit down and shouting “you are a burden wherever you go” as King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida’s royal motorcade passed a crowd gathered at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC) on 15 October 2022. Plainclothes officers subsequently carried him inside the QSNCC, where he was detained in a room for an hour before being taken to Lumpini Police Station. The police also obtained a warrant to search his family home but found nothing incriminating.

Because he struggled to get away from the officers, he was told by the police he had to be taken to the Police Hospital for physical examination. However, they first took him to the Somdet Chaopraya Institute of Psychiatry, where he said staff tied him to a chair and demanded that a friend or family member come in to refuse treatment on his behalf before he could be released.

Atirut was indicted in January 2023. The public prosecutor claimed that what he shouted at the royal motorcade was inappropriate and insulting. They accused him of trying to make people think that the King and Queen’s visit caused problems and burdened the public, a claim that could lead to hatred of the King and Queen as well as damage their reputations. They also accused him of resisting arrest by kicking the arresting officers, causing two of them to sustain minor injuries on their arms and backs.

On 12 December 2023, the South Bangkok Criminal Court found him guilty of royal defamation and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months in prison, a sentence that was reduced to 1 year and 8 months because he confessed.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said today (16 March) that the Appeal Court ruled to uphold the verdict on the grounds that calling the King and Queen a burden leads to hate, loss of faith, and conflict. It noted that Atirut confessed and has already been given the lowest penalty possible, and that he has a Bachelor’s degree and therefore should know right from wrong.

The Court also dismissed his appeal that he did not know the men arresting him were police officers or that they did not identify themselves on the grounds that the plainclothes officers were wearing their ID badges.

Atirut’s lawyers have requested bail pending appeal with the Supreme Court. He was subsequently granted bail on a 450,000-baht security.