Pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok marked United Nations Human Rights Day on Thursday with rallies calling for the abolition of Thailand’s strict royal defamation law, which was recently revived to prosecute more than 20 of the protest movement’s leaders.
Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, one of the leaders, submitted a letter to the United Nations on Thursday urging it to pressure the Thai government to stop using Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, which forbids defamation of key members of the monarchy. Somyot, a former magazine editor, was previously imprisoned for seven years for publishing articles deemed to violate the lese majeste law.
“Article 112 is an outdated law that no other countries have endorsed. It prevents people from expressing their opinion freely and the government has used it to destroy its opponents,” Somyot said.
Somyot said the pro-democracy group will send representatives to a UN Human rights conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in May 2021.
Thursday’s protests also coincided with Thailand’s Constitution Day, a national holiday marking the country’s adoption of its first constitution in 1932, which meant that many offices in the city were closed. The demonstrations drew significantly smaller crowds than other recent rallies, which have attracted tens of thousands of participants.
Ahead of Thursday’s protests, government security officials erected barricades using shipping containers and barbed wire, and police were deployed to prevent any possible move toward Chitralada Palace, the residence of King Maha Vajiralongkorn.