Courts in Thailand are highly politicized. Usually they make decisions genuflecting to the powers-that-be (of which they are a part). Often what the law actually says is simply ignored, as has been seen in many lese majeste cases.
It is something of a surprise when, in political cases, a court actually follows the law. In one such case, the Bangkok Post reports that the “Phu Khieo Provincial Court of Chaiyaphum province has acquitted student activists Jatupat ‘Pai Dao Din’ Boonpattararaksa and Vasin Prommanee on charges of violating the 2016 constitution referendum law.”
That the “two student activists were charged with breaking Section 61 (2) the law when they wore ‘Vote No’ T-shirts and handed out leaflets on ‘7 reasons why we shouldn’t accept charte'”, an infographic prepared by the New Democracy Movement (NDM), at Phu Khieo fresh market on Aug 6, 2016, a day before the vote” was a travesty. There was no evidence that the two had broken the law. They were arrested because they opposed the draft constitution.
The Phu Khieo court rightly decided that “the two defendants did hand out the leaflets but the distribution was in line with the exercise of rights and freedom under Section 7 of the public referendum law.”
Political Prisoners in Thailand 