Clipped from Prachatai
On 19 October 2022, a court in Narathiwat sentenced Pakpinya (last name withheld), 31, a hospital librarian, singer, and model living in Bangkok, to 9 years in prison on lese majeste and computer crimes.
Ultra-royalist vigilante Pasit Chanhuaton filed complaints against her for sharing Facebook posts about the use of violence to disperse pro-democracy protesters in 2020 and the public being prohibited from using Sanam Luang.
Phasit searched for and identified six posts he attributed to claiming they constituted lese majeste. He claimed these shared posts were from Facebook pages belonging to activist groups.
Some of these posts criticized police crowd control when they used water cannon against protesters. He claimed that Pakpinya added a caption saying that people would be able to enter if they wear a yellow shirt.
The royally deranged Pasit also accused her of sharing a post from คนไทยยูเค claiming that the king ordered the use of violence against protesters. He alleged that she also shared a post critical of the royal use of Sanam Luang while the people were locked out.
Three other posts were about enforced disappearances and the regime’s mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccine production.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights point out that while the police did little investigation and Pasit lied, the court still founf Pakpinya guilty in three of the six instances.
Pasit dubious account included a statement that:
… he has never met Pakpinya, but insisted that she is the owner of the Facebook profile he filed a complaint against.
During cross-examination, Phasit claimed that he was not involved with the royalist group Citizens’ Network to Protect the Monarchy, even though he stated when he filed his complaint that he was a member. He also claimed not to know who the group’s leaders or members were, and that he knew that the network has been filing royal defamation complaint against people in various provinces, but did not know where.
Phasit said that he took screen captures of the posts from his mobile phone and did not print them out from Facebook, so there was no URL for each post, and that he adjusted the size of each picture before putting them into Microsoft Word and printing them out.
The police apparently didn’t investigate any of Pasit’s claims or his “evidence.” For instance:
Pol Maj Natee Chansaengsri, an inquiry officer at Su-ngai Kolok Provincial Police Station, also testified that he did not ask to see Phasit’s mobile phone, or for the original files of the photos he printed out. The police also did not confiscate Phasit’s mobile phone and laptop, so he could not confirm whether the content used to file the complaint matched with what is on the Facebook profile.
He also said during cross-examination that it was not possible to determine the IP Address that uses the profile, and that identity could not be determined from a YouTube account. He admitted that it is possible for Facebook accounts to share names and that he does not know if information on Facebook can be changed by another person.
After the verdict, Pakpinya was granted bail with a 200,000-baht security.
Media accounts of Pakpinya’s case:
Prachatai, 21 October 2022: “Woman sentenced to 9 years for sharing Facebook posts“
Political Prisoners in Thailand 