Parit Chiwarak, also known as “Penguin”, was found guilty of infringing Thailand’s stringent royal defamation, or lese-majeste, laws during youth-led pro-democracy protests in in 2020-21.
He expected to face a further 24 royal defamation charges, according to the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) group.
The 26-year-old activist, who was not in court in Bangkok today, was one of the key figures leading the demonstrations which saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets with unprecedented calls for reform of the monarchy.
Parit was charged over comments posted on his Facebook page from July 28 to Aug 1, 2021. July 28 is the birthday of His Majesty the King.
Parit earlier claimed that his Facebook account had been hacked. The court rejected this argument, saying he had failed to later remove the offensive posts.
The Criminal Court today initially handed down a sentence of three years, then reduced it to two years because he gave useful testimony in the case, reports the Bangkok Post.
The ruling was delivered in absentia. Parit has failed to show up at the court since June 25 and is widely believed to have fled the country.
The judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest. The statute of limitations in the case is 10 years.
Some of the world’s strictest lese-majeste laws protect King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family, with each offence carrying a potential 15-year sentence.
Critics say the government has used the legislation to silence dissent. More than 270 people have been prosecuted for lese-majeste since 2020, according to TLHR.
On May 14, rights activist Netiporn Sanae-sangkhom, also detained on royal defamation charges, died in custody while on hunger strike.
Netiporn had been held in pre-trial detention since January.
She was charged over an incident that occurred during a royal motorcade protest in 2020.