Thai court acquits politician accused of insulting the royal family in Facebook livestream

BANGKOK - A Thai criminal court has acquitted a prominent Thai opposition political figure charged with cybercrimes and insulting the royal family during a 2021 Facebook livestream, his lawyer said on Thursday.

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the 47-year-old founder of the progressive political movement aligned with the current opposition People's Party, had been accused of lese majeste and violating the country's cyber laws during the January 2021

livestream, in which he said the government had mishandled its COVID-19 vaccine campaign and unfairly favoured Siam Bioscience, a company owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

He was formally indicted in 2022.

Thailand has one of the world's strictest lese majeste laws and a conviction carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. Breaches of its computer crimes act are also punishable by up to five years in prison.

Thanathorn's lawyer, Krisadang Nutcharat said the prosecutor has 30 days to appeal the court's sentence.

The office of the attorney general did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thanathorn was banned from politics for 10 years by the Constitutional Court in 2020 over a loan he extended to the now-dissolved Future Forward Party, the predecessor of the People's Party.

-Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by David Stanway/Reuters