Thai MP found guilty of insulting monarchy in posts

A female politician from Thailand was given a six-year prison sentence for breaking strict laws about criticizing the royal family. She has been let out of jail after paying bail.

Rukchanok “Ice” Srinork was blamed for posting tweets that said bad things about the king. She said she did not do it.

The Move Forward party won the election and wants to change the lese-majeste laws.

However, the senate, which is not voted into their positions, used this as the main reason for stopping the party from forming a government.

People were upset about the lese-majeste laws, which led to big protests in 2020 that went on for many months. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights say that about 260 people have been charged with breaking the lese-majeste law since 2020. Around 2,000 people have been charged with breaking the law for taking part in the protests.

Earlier this week, a 26 year-old man was sent to prison for yelling at a royal motorcade about something he thinks is a problem for society. He is out of jail after paying some money.

Ice from the Move Forward party was found guilty by a Bangkok court on Wednesday for making two posts that insulted the monarch. In one post, she criticized how the country dealt with the pandemic, and in the other post, she shared a tweet that was critical of the monarchy.

The 28-year-old will not be able to keep her job if she goes to jail.

She won a big election in May even though the area usually voted for a powerful family. She didn’t spend a lot of money, but just rode a bike and still won.

She was called “giant-killer” by a Thai news outlet because she won against a very powerful politician.

Many important people in the Move Forward party are also accused of insulting the monarchy. Some of them were activists in the 2020 protests.

The protests started because of a court decision in February 2020 that shut down Future Forward, the old version of Move Forward party. It was the first party to campaign for big changes in Thailand’s institutions.

Future Forward did really well in the 2019 election because a lot of younger voters were really excited about them. This year, Move Forward surprised Thailand’s leaders by doing really well and winning more seats than any other party. Ice’s victory in Bang Bon played a big part in their success.

After King Vajiralongkorn became king in 2016, the lese-majeste law was not used for about two years because the king asked for it.

However, when the protesters in 2020 demanded changes to the royal family, the authorities began to use the law more strictly than ever before in Thailand’s history.

The lese-majeste law is very broad, so it’s hard to defend against it in court.

It is a law that deals with keeping the country safe, and judges don’t often declare defendants as not guilty. Trials are sometimes held in secret, without anyone else watching. Defendants are strongly pressured to admit they are guilty, even if they have a strong case. If they admit guilt, they are likely to get a shorter sentence from the judge.

Legal cases in Thailand usually last for a long time, and the young activists involved in the 2020 protests will have to spend a lot of time in court dealing with serious charges. This will affect their lives for a long time.

This way of making the legal process slow has been very effective at stopping the protest movement. The leaders of the protest are facing many charges and do not have time to plan and organize right now.