The Thai military has threatened a prominent anti-junta activist from the New Democracy Movement (NDM) with the lèse majesté law over her Facebook post.
On 8 December 2016, Chanoknan Ruamsap, a key member of NDM, posted message on her Facebook account that the military contacted her family while she is in Brazil.
“My mother just called me from Thailand, telling me that the military called her and talked about the Facebook status I posted three days ago about the monarchy. [They] told me that I might be detained at the Airport once I return to Thailand…for an offence under Article 112 [of the Criminal Code]” wrote Chanoknan on her Facebook account.
The activist added “To any soldier who might read this message, inform your responsible units that pressuring my family will not shut me up.”
Chanoknan said that she does not believe that that any of her Facebook post is defamatory to the Thai Monarchy.
On 3 December, she shared on Facebook the biography of King Vajiralongkorn, Rama X, published by the BBC Thai and on 5 December she shared another article published by the Telegraph about King Rama X.
Currently, the Thai authorities are now investigating whether the BBC Thai article on King Rama X, which has already been blocked, violates the lèse majesté law as many ultra-royalists criticised the BBC Thai for the article, saying that its content is defaming to the new King of the country.
On 3 December, police officers arrested Jatuphat Boonpattaraksa, a key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM) anti-junta activist group, for sharing the BBC Thai's biography of King Rama X on his Facebook account.
After one day of detention, Khon Kaen Provincial Court, however, granted him 400,000 baht bail the next day.
Chanoknan will have to stand on trial at the Military Court of Bangkok on 23 December over the charge of defying the Thai junta’s ban on political gatherings.
She and five other key members of the NDM were indicted for violating National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 3/2015, which prohibits political gatherings of five or more persons, by organising a field trip to Prachuap Khiri Khan Province to investigate the Rajabhakti Park corruption scandals.
