112 update IV

This is the fourth in our multi-part update on 112 from the past 3-4 weeks:

Along with many other outlets, the BBC reported that on 13 December 2023, Rukchanok “Ice” Srinork, 28, a Move Forward Party MP, was convicted of lese majeste and computer crimes and was sentenced to six years in jail.

Rukchanok had pleaded not guilty to posting tweets critical of the monarchy.

She was soon released on bail pending an appeal. If her appeal fails and she is jailed, Rukchanok will lose her parliamentary seat.

Rukchanok was “found guilty of insulting the monarch by a Bangkok court for two posts made before she joined Move Forward – in the first, she criticised the country’s handling of the pandemic, and the second was a repost of a tweet that was said to be critical of the monarchy.”

Prachatai reported that Rukchanok was accompanied by Move Forward leaders Pita Limjaroenrat and party leader Chaithawat Tulathon when she appeared in court.

Rukchanok faced two charges over tweets in July and October 2021. The complaint was filed by Manirat Laowaloet of the Prayuth Chan-ocha regime’s Technology Crime Suppression Division. At the time, Rukchanok was a member of the Clubhouse for Democracy.

According to TLHR, Rukchanok’s “first message criticized the government’s decision to allow a licence to only one company to produce the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which caused a vaccine shortage affecting the lives of people.” Readers will recall that prosecutors and police have been dogged in their tracking down of critics of the king’s Siam Bioscience company. She also “attached her picture standing next to the image of King Vajiralongkorn and holding a banner that read ‘Tyrant (noun); Ruler of the country who uses their power to cause suffering to those under their rule’.”

Her second message was a repost from a Twitter “expressing dissatisfaction towards the King, which stated that ‘the people will not be free until the feudalist (sakdina) group has been eliminated’.”

Thai PBS reports that after she made bail, Rukchanok stated that she would “continue to be the mouthpiece of all suspects charged with lèse majesté, adding that they should be granted bail to defend their cases in court, in accordance with the Constitution.”

Other reports on the case: Thai PBS, The Nation, Bangkok Post, Thai.News, Nikkei Asia, AFP, AP, Reuters, Al Jazeera. The Guardian, CNA, Benar News, CNN, Human Rights Watch, The Diplomat.