Thailand monarchy

Both were granted bail pending an appeal, following the recent death of a monarchy-reform activist in custody.

The death of Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom has drawn attention to the Thai government's cruel use of pretrial detention to silence peaceful critics of the monarchy.

If disbanded over its pledge to reform the country's "sacred" institution, the Move Forward Party will simply re-emerge in new form.

The 25-year jail term came just days after the Election Commission ordered the disbanding of a major opposition party for advocating the reform of the lese-majeste law.

If the MFP is disbanded, the party's political energy is almost certain to re-emerge in an alternate, and likely more radical, form.

The charges follow an incident over the weekend in which monarchy reform activists and ultra-royalists engaged in a public brawl in Bangkok.

The detained former PM's persecution and rehabilitation have both reflected the use of the country's administrative and legal system for political ends.

The pair were charged as "accomplices" to an incident last March in which an activist spray-painted an anti-royalist message inside Bangkok's Grand Palace.

Thaksin Shinawatra has been informed about a lese-majeste complaint claiming that he insulted the monarchy in a 2015 interview in South Korea.

The Constitutional Court deemed it unconstitutional to advocate a change in the country’s lese majeste law. That is a central plank of Move Forward’s platform.

Rukchanok Srinork's Move Forward Party has campaigned hard for the repeal of Article 112 of the Thai penal code, which criminalizes criticism of the monarchy.