Monarchy reform activist Parit Chiwarak, aka “Penguin”, was sentenced in absentia by the Criminal Court today to two years in prison on lèse majesté charges and violations of Computer Crime Act.
The court also issued a warrant for his arrest.
The well-known activist was accused of posting messages and images on his Facebook page, between July 28 and August 1, 2021, which were deemed to be threatening to the Monarchy.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was granted bail. He then failed to appear before the court on June 25th, when a verdict was scheduled to be read by the court, forcing the court to issue an arrest warrant.
Parit’s lawyer, however, appeared before the court today without Parit, who is believed to have fled the country. The court proceeded to read the verdict in absentia.
In the verdict, the court dismissed Parit’s claim that he did not post the messages and images on his Facebook page, suggesting that they were planted by someone else. The court said, if the inflammatory content was planted by someone else, the defendant should have deleted it from the page, but he did not do so.
The court also dismissed the activist’s claim that the message, inviting people to wear black, was just a symbolic gesture in support of reform of the Monarchy.
