In Thailand, a former civil servant sentenced to 43.5 years in prison for insulting the monarchy
In Thailand, a former civil servant, 65-year-old Anchan Prylet, was sentenced to a record 43.5 years in prison. This decision was made by the Bangkok Criminal Court. She was punished for 29 episodes of insulting the monarchy by reposting audio content on social networks that criticizes the ruling system. This was announced in its own Twitter account by the organization Thai Human Rights Advocates, whose representatives are in the courtroom.
“The Criminal Court pronounced a verdict in the Anchan case (name of the defendant): 29 episodes of insult to grandeur, under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, 87 years in prison. In connection with the confession of the defendant's guilt, the sentence was commuted to 43.5 years in prison. The defense applied to the Criminal Court with a petition for the provisional release of the defendant on bail pending the appeal against the verdict in the Court of Appeal. The Criminal Court ruled that only the Court of Appeal can make a decision on bail for the period of appeal against the verdict, ”the organization said.
As reported by RIA Novosti, Anchan Prilet, being an employee of the tax service, was arrested by the military authorities in January 2015 when she was less than a year away from retirement. The woman was taken into custody by order of a military tribunal, where, after the military coup in 2014, all cases were transferred under article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code on insulting the monarchy.
The official was accused of reposting audio podcasts on social networks of one of the Thai dissidents, who is in exile.
Prilet spent three years and nine months in the remand prison. In 2018, after criticism of the Thai authorities by international human rights organizations, the woman was temporarily released on bail of her plot of land. She was at large until the day the verdict was announced.
In the same year, the Anchan Prilet case was transferred from a military tribunal to the Bangkok Criminal Court. In turn, the woman stated in an interview with Thai media that she did not assume that she had violated the law by reposting audio podcasts.
It is noted that article 112 of the Criminal Code of Thailand provides for sentences of up to 15 years for each episode of insulting the reigning monarch, members of the royal family and the regent.
