In sync with The Dictator’s announcement that lese majeste was back, two reports of complaints and/or charges being filed against protest leaders.
The Nation reports that Protest leader Parit Chiwarak or Penguin stated on Sunday that “police had contacted him to hear a charge of lese majeste against him. However, he was not sure the charge related to which demonstration. The protest leader assured people that he would not flee Thailand to escape the severe charge.”
The Bangkok Post reports that Nitipong Hornak, reportedly a “songwriter, founder and major shareholder of Grammy Entertainment,” has “filed a lese majeste complaint against Panusaya ‘Rung’ Sithijirawattanakul, a co-leader of the People’s Movement.” He is reported to have “filed the complaint with the police Technology Crime Suppression Division on Friday afternoon…”. The incident the complaint focuses on is not known.
We may be missing something, but the Stock Exchange of Thailand does not list Nitipong as a major shareholder of Grammy/GMM and nor is he listed at Wikipedia as a founder of the company.
Update 1: Matichon reports that lese majeste charges are now out for 12 protest leaders, including Rung and Penguin (mentioned above):
1. นายพริษฐ์ ชิวารักษ์ หรือเพนกวิน (Penguin)
2. น.ส.ปนัสยา สิทธิจิรวัฒนกุล หรือรุ้ง (Rung)
3. นายภาณุพงค์ จาดนอก หรือไมค์ (Rayong Mike)
4. นายอานนท์ นำภา (Arnon)
5. น.ส.ภัสราวลี ธนกิจวิบูลย์ผล หรือมายด์
6. นายชนินทร์ วงษ์ศรี
7. น.ส.จุฑาทิพย์ ศิริขันธ์
8. นายปิยรัฐ จงเทพ
9. นายทัตเทพ เรืองประไพกิจเสรี
10. นายอรรถพล บัวพัฒน์
11. นายชูเกียรติ แสงวงศ์
12. นายสมบัติ ทองย้อย
Update 2: Several English-language outlets now report the 12 lese majeste cases: Bangkok Post, The Nation, Thai PBS.
Interestingly, “Protest leader Panusaya ‘Rung’ Sithijirawattanakul has been named as one of the world’s 100 most inspirational and influential women of 2020 by the BBC.”
Meanwhile, Thai Enquirer argues that using lese majeste is merely inviting rightists to expand their fascist royalism.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 
[…] use of lese majeste and the multiple threats of arrest today have mounted. The regime has seemingly calculated that the […]
[…] list does not entirely match that at Thai Enquirer. and nor does it match that we reproduced a couple of days ago. Comparing the three lists, it may be that about 20 have been charged or been summoned to hear 112 […]