The Appeal Court has upheld the two-year prison term given to a woman activist found guilty of dressing up and acting like HM the Queen during a demonstration in 2020.
The court refused to suspend the prison sentence, and also upheld a 1,000 baht fine.
The ruling of the Appeal Court was announced at the Bangkok South Criminal Court on Monday.
The defendant, Jatuporn Sae Ung, 25, had dressed to look like the Queen during a demonstration calling for reform of the royal institution in the Silom area of Bangkok in October 2020.
The court said the defendant wore a traditional Thai-style dress and kept shaking hands with demonstrators who were calling her the queen and calling out “Long live”. The defendant had admitted to imitating the Queen in her behaviour.
Jatuporn was initially given a three-year sentence by the court of first instance and fined 1,500 baht. Because she cooperated during the investigation the court reduced the prison term to two years and the fine to 1,000 baht.
The Appeal Court upheld the judgement.
Jatuporn, a member of the Buri Ram Plod Ak (Free Buri Ram) group, was accused of breaching Section 112 of the Criminal Code, known as the lese majeste law, by dressing up to imitate and poke fun at Her Majesty the Queen during a mock fashion show organised by the anti-government Ratsadon group on Silom Road on Oct 29, 2020.
