Thailand: seven HRDs sentenced for protesting the Myanmar military coup
Event- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Aug 21, 2023
- Event Description
7 people have been sentenced for violating the Emergency Decree due to their participation in a protest on 1 February 2021 against a coup by the Myanmar Military.
On 21 August 2023, the Criminal Court ruled that 7 people committed offences by violating the Emergency Decree and interfering with the operations of authorities. According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), all were sentenced and fined for their actions.
Punnaphat Chantanangkul, a student at Thammasat University, was sentenced to twelve months, a sentence which was reduced to 4 months and twenty days. A second defendant was sentenced to three years and one month and fined 40,000 Baht, a sentence which was reduced to one year, six months and 15 days with a 20,000 Baht fine.
The rest of the defendants were sentenced to four years and fined 60,000 Baht each. The sentence was reduced to two years and fifty days with a 30,000 Baht fine each.
The court suspended the sentences of the second to seventh defendants, except for Punnaphat, who requested bail.
TLHR later reported that Punnaphat was granted bail after posting 150,000 Baht as security.
On 1 February 2021, Thais and Myanmarese gathered in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Thailand in response to a coup and the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, the de-facto leader of the NLD-led administration, as well as NLD politicians and candidates countrywide. A second gathering took place at the Pathumwan Skywalk.
The protest was dispersed by the Royal Thai Police with shields and batons. 3 protesters were arrested: one member of the volunteer protest guard group We Volunteer, one student from Thammasat University and one ordinary citizen.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19
- Freedom of assembly
- Freedom of expression
- Offline
- Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 13.751617379161841
Longitude: 100.5190326927382
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 21 August 2023, seven pro-democracy defenders and students including Punnaphat Chantanangkul, were sentenced by a court for their participation in a peaceful protest against the Myanmar military coup in Bangkok, Thailand.