In Thailand, an appeals court has sentenced a democracy activist to 50 years in prison for lese majeste. Mongkol Thirakot received the punishment for a total of 27 posts on Facebook. which he wrote three years ago and in which he is said to have defamed the royal family of the Southeast Asian country.

In the first instance he was sentenced to 28 years in prison. However, the judge found him guilty of additional charges on Thursday, the organization Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported. Human rights activists spoke of a record punishment. In 2021, a woman was sentenced to 87 years in prison for distributing offensive audio clips. However, her sentence was reduced to 43 years because of her cooperation with the court.

The punishment for Mongkol Thirakot was also even harsher, originally 75 years old. However, it was also reduced by a third due to his cooperation with the court. The court rejected the Thai man's request to be allowed to remain free until a further appeal hearing.

One of the strictest laws in the world

According to the Bangkok Post newspaper, the activist was arrested in April 2021 for protesting for the right of other lese majeste defendants to be released on bail. The 30-year-old activist ran an online clothing shop in Chiang Rai province. The well-known democracy activist and human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa was sentenced to four more years in prison on Wednesday.

Thailand has one of the strictest lese majeste laws in the world. Article 112 of the Criminal Code provides for prison sentences of three to fifteen years for insulting a member of the royal family, although these can be consecutive for different charges.

The abolition of the paragraph is one of the core concerns of the democracy movement, which led to street protests with thousands of participants in 2020. Since then, at least 262 people have been charged under the controversial law, according to TLHR. Changing the paragraph was also a campaign issue for the young Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in last year's parliamentary election.

However, conservative parties and the Senate appointed by the military regime loyal to the king prevented the formation of a government under Move Forward. At the end of January, Thailand's Constitutional Court wants to make a ruling on whether Move Forward and its leading candidate Pita Limjaroenrat have violated the constitution with their demand.