File photo: Piyarat Chongthep//Piyarat's FB page
Giving the defendant the benefit of doubt, the Kalasin provincial court has acquitted People’s party MP Piyarat Chongthep of lèse majesté, charges which were laid in connection with a poster criticising an alleged monopoly on COVID-19 vaccines and its dissemination on social media.
The court ruled that the prosecution’s evidence was unconvincing and did not prove that Piyarat, former chief of the “WeVo” guards for anti-monarchy protesters, was responsible for displaying the poster in Yang Talat district of Kalasin or for posting images of it on social media in 2020.
The case dated back to a protest in Kalasin on January 23, 2020.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said today that there are still other two lèse majesté cases against Piyarat pending in the Criminal Court in Bangkok and the Ubon Ratchathani provincial court.
