It’s shit 112

Photo from TLHR via Prachatai

Prachatai reports that on 28 April 2025, the Appeals Court in Chiang Mai upheld a 112 conviction for 27 year-old Pimchanok Jirataiyanon, a pro-democracy activist. She has been hit with two years in prison for a Facebook post in 2022.

In her Facebook post on 17 February 2022, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights states that she said: “The government is shit, the institution is shit…”. The activist was apprehended at her residence in Bangkok on 18 March 2022, without having received a prior summons, and following a complaint that “institution” referred to the monarchy “without mentioning it explicitly.”

Thais of all political colors insist on referring to the monarchy as “the institution.”

But Pimchanok “testified that she did not refer to the royal institution as accused, but rather an educational institution. In addition, she argued that the royal defamation law covers only the King, the Queen, the Heir Apparent, and the Regent, rather than the whole royal institution.”

In her initial case, the court found her guilty and on 16 February 2023 sentenced her to prison, noting that “a day before the post, she was found live streaming near the route of Her Royal Princess Highness Chulabhorn’s motorcade in Chiang Mai. She also refused to leave the area when asked by the police.” In addition, a police officer testified that “she was involved in a political movement related to the monarchy and the royal defamation [lese majeste] law.”

Not that it bothers the higher ups, but this kind of testimony is clear evidence that using 112 to repress political activists is the establishment’s best medicine for free thinkers.

That initial court ruling found that, despite not mentioning any specific monarch, Article 112 does “protect… the monarchy as an institution. It ruled that it is understood that the King and the monarchy are inseparable and represent the same entity. The Queen, the Heir Apparent, and the Regent are also regarded as integral parts of the monarchy.”

That’s yet another legal manipulation by the judiciary.

Pimchanok was sentenced her to three years in prison, reduced to two years for “useful” testimony.

She’s now filing an appeal with the Supreme Court, and at last report was in jail awaiting bail.