Thai court acquits a progressive political leader on charges of royal defamation

Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit speaks during a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

BANGKOK — A criminal court in Thailand on Thursday acquitted the popular leader of a progressive political movement on charges of defaming the king and violating the law on online activity.

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, head of the group Progressive Movement, was charged based on comments he made during a Facebook Live broadcast in 2021 about the awarding of a government COVID-19 vaccine production contract to a company owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

His comments were part of a general criticism that the government of then-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha bungled its vaccination campaign by failing to ensure timely, adequate and effective supplies.

A press release from the Bangkok Criminal Court said Thanathorn’s comments overall aimed to criticize Prayuth and did not contain any malicious or defamatory message towards the king.

Thailand’s lese majeste law, also known as Article 112 of the Criminal Code, carries a prison term of up to 15 years for insulting the monarchy, but critics say it is often wielded as a tool to quash political dissent. The charge of breaching the Computer Crime Act is punishable by five years.

It is rare to see an acquittal in a royal defamation case. Thailand’s machinery of state remains deeply conservative. Its political establishment is sensitive about any perceived threats to the status of the country’s monarchy.

“Personally, I feel relieved,” Thanathorn said to reporters outside the court after the ruling.

He called for the rights of political prisoners to be respected.

“They are not criminals in a literal sense,” he said. “They are in jail because they think and they speak.”

Student-led pro-democracy demonstrations starting in 2020 had sought to bring changes to the lese majeste law, but protesters found themselves targets of prosecution under the same statute.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a law advocate group, says that more than 290 people, many of them student activists, have been charged with violating Article 112 since early 2020.

The state attorney general’s office, the plaintiff in the case, said in a press release that it is considering whether to an appeal.

Thanathorn co-founded the now-disbanded Future Forward Party, which became a major political force after finishing third in the 2019 general election, just a year after it was established. It was especially critical of the military, a pillar of the country’s establishment with major influence over the government.

Thanathorn was forced out of Parliament in 2020 when a court ruled that he had broken an election law by previously owning shares in a media company. Future Forward was dissolved by the Constitutional Court the same year on charges of violating election laws on donations to political parties.

The party’s successor Move Forward Party won the most seats after the 2023 general election, a major win for the progressive movement after nearly a decade under military-backed rule, but conservative lawmakers blocked the party from forming a government.

It was disbanded by a court order in 2024 after it was accused of violating the constitution by proposing an amendment of the law against defaming the royal family.

Its latest incarnation, the People’s Party, came in second in the 2026 election and is now the main opposition party.

Jintamas Saksornchai, The Associated Press