Frank Rondel
Pruttikorn “Ton Pai” Sarakul, 43, a former company employee, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for posting 10 anti-monarchy messages on social media — three years for each post — under Section 112 of Thailand’s Criminal Code, the country’s lese-majeste law, reports customreceipt.com, via original press release bangkokpost. This sentence adds to his previous convictions, bringing the total prison term he now faces to 50 years. Pruttikorn was absent from the hearing, prompting authorities to issue a warrant for his arrest.
The Criminal Court in Bangkok delivered the sentence on Tuesday for content posted on a Twitter account between November 2021 and March 2022, which carried critical comments about the monarchy. Earlier, on December 18, 2025, Pruttikorn had received a 30-year sentence related to 10 posts on a Facebook page expressing anti-monarchy views, which was later reduced to 20 years.
Both cases were initiated following complaints by Special Branch police officers monitoring anti-monarchy content online. Investigations were conducted by the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB), and witness testimony concluded in November 2024. The case had been temporarily suspended pending a legal challenge filed by the defendant’s lawyer, Arnon Nampa, who has been in detention since September 26, 2023, while appealing multiple lese-majeste convictions totaling 29 years.
Thailand’s Constitutional Court in August 2025 ruled that trials and witness examinations may proceed even if a defendant fails to appear without a reasonable cause, a ruling that allowed the Criminal Court to continue the proceedings in Pruttikorn’s absence.
Earlier we wrote that Greg Brown, CAKE Founding Guitarist and Writer of “The Distance,” Dies After Illness