Criminal Court acquits People’s Party MP of lese majeste charges

Court rules prosecutors failed to prove case

The Criminal Court on Tuesday acquitted Bangkok MP Piyarat Chongthep of the opposition People’s Party in a lese majeste lawsuit, citing benefit of the doubt.

The court ruled that public prosecutors could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Piyarat, a former leader of the WeVo rally security group, had violated Article 112 of the Criminal Code and Article 14 of the Computer Crime Act by posting a message deemed defamatory to the Royal Family.

Charges stemmed from 2020 Facebook post

The case arose from a Facebook post dated 31 December 2020, after Piyarat and members of his WeVo group were arrested for holding a rally in violation of the public gathering ban during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Authorities alleged the post, which mentioned taxpayers’ money being used by the Royal Family, expressed malice against the monarchy.
Supporters presented flowers to Piyarat outside the court to show moral support before the verdict.

Doubt over authorship of the post

The court noted that although the Facebook page belonged to Piyarat, five administrators were responsible for managing and posting content. Prosecutors failed to prove who actually made the post deemed insulting to the Royal Family.

The ruling further highlighted that the post was made at 2.15pm on 31 December 2020, when Piyarat was already under arrest and detained by police at 12.30pm at the Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters.

Piyarat was released on bail only on 2 January 2021, raising further doubts as to whether he could have posted the message during his detention. The court therefore acquitted him on the benefit of the doubt.

Piyarat: Article 112 used as political tool

Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Piyarat said the acquittal was due to the fact that he was in detention without access to communication devices at the time of the post.

He added that he hoped the case would serve as a lesson that Article 112 could be used as a political tool to harass opponents of the government.

Piyarat said he still faces another lese majeste charge at the Ubon Ratchathani Court but vowed to fight it with facts as in the current case.

Facing multiple legal battles

The MP revealed that he has been sued in 20 cases so far. He stressed that he has never invoked parliamentary immunity to avoid trial, choosing instead to appear in court for every case filed against him.