Thai Constitutional Court makes ruling on lese majeste law

The Thai Constitutional Court has ruled on an issue regarding the lese majeste law.

The court has said that Thailand’s largest political party, Move Forward, violated the Constitution by campaigning against the lese majeste law.

The party wanted the lese majeste law to be relaxed, but the Constitutional Court said the campaign was akin to an attempt to overthrow the monarchy.

The court said in its ruling that there was an “intention to separate the monarchy from the Thai nation, which poses a significant threat to the security of the state.”

Move Forward now must stop using the law as a point in their campaigns.

Thailand has some of the strictest lese majeste laws in the world that can carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. Violations of the law are considered any insult, defamation, or threat made to or about the King, Queen, and heir to the throne under Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code.

Most recently, a man was jailed for 50 years (a record in Thailand) due to posts on Facebook. Originally, he was sentenced to 28 years by a lower criminal court but an appeals court convicted him on 11 more counts of lese majeste.