A detained 33-year-old Facebook user has been sentenced to prison for royal defamation over two Facebook posts in 2022. She was previously convicted for another royal defamation case, bringing the cumulative prison term for the two cases to 15 years.

Kanruethai Klaion,33, was charged with royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act over two posts from July and September 2022, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).

The complaint against Kanruethai was filed by Anon Klinkaew, a prominent conservative figure and leader of the ultra-royalist People’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy. In 2023, he and other members of the group also attacked a group of activists protesting in front of the Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court to demand the release of political prisoners and reporters covering the protest.

Anon himself has repeatedly filed royal defamation complaints against monarchy reform advocates, including Thanalop Phalanchai, who was 14 years old when the complaint against her was filed. He also posted a video clip threatening to kill her.

Kanruethai told TLHR that, before she was charged, Special Branch Police officers visited her at her apartment on 8 April 2021. She said she was tricked into leaving her apartment when a woman knocked on her door and told her that her car had run into Kanruethai’s car.

However, when Kanruethai went to the car park to check the two vehicles, she found no damage. As she was about to return to her room, she was surrounded by officers who showed her pictures of posts from her personal Facebook profile.

The officers claimed that the posts constituted an offense under the royal defamation law and the Computer Crimes Act, and told her they would take her to Lat Phrao Police Station to negotiate with her not to post such material again and to close her Facebook account.

On Tuesday (24 March), the Criminal Court sentenced Kanruethai to six years (three years for each post). Due to her guilty plea, the total prison term was reduced to three years.

This is Kanruethai’s second conviction on royal defamation. She was previously convicted for eight Facebook posts from between February and April 2022, resulting in around 12 years’ imprisonment. She was also denied bail.

Kanruethai has been detained for one year and seven months at the Central Women Correctional Institution.

Following her latest conviction, the Court ordered the sentences to run consecutively. As a result, Kanruethai will have to serve around 15 years in prison.