Three years in prison for selling satirical calendars. On March 7, reports Courrier international, a 26-year-old man was sentenced by a court in northwest Bangkok after nearly a week of trial. Arrested on New Year’s Eve 2020, he was “accused of defamation of the king”. The reason for the wrath of the authorities? The calendar sale featuring designs of inflatable yellow ducks… “resembling the monarch”. It must be said that since November 2020, these yellow waterfowl have become a mark of protest against Thai King Rama X, in power since 2016.
According to the Thai media Thai Enquirer, critic of the power, the police had set up a major operation to arrest the young man. Indeed, members of the police made the young man believe that they were interested in one of his products, before ordering a copy. Neither one nor two, thanks to this sending – or rather because – the authorities manage to go back to the author. According to the local press, the young man’s prison sentence was reduced “to two years, without the possibility of parole” following “cooperation” on his part. Since 2014, the “crime of lèse-majesté” has been considered a national security offence. A qualification that prevents the condemned from appealing.
The yellow duck has become political since November 17, 2020 in the country. And this, after the use of water cannons by the police to disperse demonstrators who came to demand more democracy. First brandished to protect themselves, they gradually became the symbol of defiance against the Thai elites. This umpteenth conviction, of which more than 200 have been recorded since November 2020, has been criticized by the NGO Human Rights Watch. In a statement, the organization said that “Thailand is moving further and further away from a rights-respecting democracy”.
To date, the crime of “lèse-majesté” is punishable by a prison sentence of up to fifteen years in prison. If this offense concerns, logically, the King himself… it has been extended in recent years to all members of the royal family, but also to members of his court. In 2015, a man was charged with defamation of a royal dog and held in custody for at least several weeks.
