Twenty-four-year-old activist Tantawan “Tawan” Tuatulanon was on Monday sentenced to two years in prison, without suspension, for lese majesty in her Facebook livestream protesting against police clearing a route for a royal motorcade in 2022.
The Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok handed down the sentence along with a fine of 600 baht for failing to comply with a police order.
Tantawan had denied the charges.
She was convicted under Section 112 of the Criminal Code (the lese majesty law) and Section 14 of the Computer Crimes Act, over an incident on March 5, 2022. On that day, Tantawan livestreamed on Facebook while standing on a footpath on Ratchadamnoen Nok Road, shortly before a royal motorcade was due to pass.
The broadcast was made from opposite the United Nations headquarters, where a long-standing farmers’ protest had been cleared away by law enforcement for the motorcade to pass.
Tantawan told reporters on Monday that she would stand by what she said that day, that farmers had been protesting there for several days demanding attention from the authorities.
After considering all of the statements she made during the livestream, the court said police were providing security for the head of state in accordance with the same standards observed in other countries.
The court noted that Tantawan had studied law and therefore should have been well aware of such principles. It found that she repeatedly used words that encouraged viewers of her livestream to make inappropriate references to the King.
Tantawan demonstrated an intended insult, it said, rather than exercising her freedom of expression as she claimed. It therefore found her guilty of lese majesty.
Because the remarks were made on Facebook, the court ruled they also amounted to the introduction of false information into a computer system.
On the charge of failing to comply with an official order, the court found that police had warned the defendant three times not to livestream.
Pol Col Somyot Udomraksap, then chief of Nang Loeng police station, ordered two woman officers to restrain Tantawan by each holding one of her arms and legs.
The court ruled that because police were responsible for security, Pol Col Somyot had the authority to issue the order. Tantawan ignored the order despite being warned, so she was found guilty of failing to comply with an official order.
However, the court acquitted her of assaulting or using force against an official. It said the officers had not told Tantawan that she would be detained or where she would be taken, so it was natural for her to become frightened.
She was merely reacting to fear, which did not constitute the use of force against officials, the court said.
The final sentence was reduced from three years in prison to two years and a 600 baht fine due to the usefulness of her defence evidence as a mitigating factor.
The court also ordered the confiscation of the phone used in the incident.
Between 2023 and 2026, the court heard evidence in this case from both the prosecution and defence over a total of seven hearings.