Banged up for fireworks

Prachatai reports on the cases of Natthasut 24, Pornchai 28, and Weerayut 33 (surnames withheld).

The charges they faced stemmed from an explosion on 16 January 2021 during a protest near Samyan Mitrtown. The protest was to demand the release of two protesters. While police pushed protesters back, there was a small a blast, smoke and sparks, in front of Chamjuree Square, near Chulalongkorn University.

Examples of giant firecrackers, clipped from Wikipedia

They were charged with “attempted murder of officials on duty, causing an explosion likely to harm others and damage property, carrying weapons into public place without reasonable ground, and violating the Firearm and Control of Armaments Acts…”.

When they were arrested on 28-29 January 2021 as is common in royalist Thailand, they had no lawyer “during the arrest and subsequent police interrogation.” They were then “held at the Bangkok Remand Prison for one month before being granted bail.”

When they first went to court, on “1 November 2022, the Court of First Instance ruled to dismiss all charges against Natthasut and dismissed charges of attempted murder against the other two defendants. Pornchai and Weerayut were sentenced to three years and six months in prison with a 1,000 baht fine.” These punishments were then reduced.

The prosecutor appealed. Pornchai and Weerayut also appealed. They argued “that they had done little more than set off a giant firecracker, not an explosive device, and that they had thrown it on the ground without targeting anyone…”.

On 26 August 2025, the Appeals Court has changed the sentencing. In a remarkable about turn, the court found all three of the young men to life imprisonment, with the term later reduced to [more than] 33 years’ imprisonment.

Clearly, the courts have been ordered to punish these men.

This mammoth sentence came despite a police report that “found no severe damage and victim testimony[that] indicated only minor injuries…”. In other words, the “firecracker they set off was not a life-threatening device.”

They are now detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison awaiting an appeal to the Supreme Court for bail.