January 20, 2021 10:23:41 am
The Bangkok Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced a Thai woman to more than 43 years in prison for insulting the monarchy.
The woman, Anchan Preelert, is a former member of the Banpodj Network, a group accused by the Thai government of being an “anti-monarchy network” due to the content of their videos uploaded to Facebook and YouTube. Preelert was arrested in 2015 along with numerous other members of the Banpodj Network for violation of Thailand’s strict
lèse-majesté laws.
Thailand has a history of charging individuals accused of insulting the monarchy under Section 112 of the Thailand Criminal Code, which is among the Thai laws governing offenses against the king and royal family. Section 112 states that “whoever defames, insults, or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years.”