Move Forward Party MP Chonthicha Jangrew is scheduled to appear in Thanyaburi Provincial Court on Monday to hear a ruling in a lese-majeste case against her.
The court appearance comes just days after Ms Chonthicha, 31, was named to the 2024 global list of Next Generation Leaders by Time magazine.
She was charged with royal defamation under Section 112 of the Criminal Code for comments she made during a rally in front of the Thanyaburi Provincial Court in Pathum Thani on Sept 11, 2021.
A co-founder of the New Democracy Movement, Ms Chonthicha has been a prominent activist since the 2014 military coup. She was one of 14 students arrested for staging an event to mark the first anniversary of the 2014 coup on May 22, 2015, and subsequently detained for 12 days.
“I have to say that I never thought of being a politician at all,” she told Time magazine. “(But) I realised one thing: if we want to make a sound, we cannot only make change on the street. We also need to get into power, and use this power to make a change — to build a society that we want to see.”
Ms Chonthicha is one of three MPs from the main opposition party facing royal defamation charges.
Bangkok MP Rukchanok Srinork was sentenced in December 2023 to six years in prison, without suspension, for lese-majeste and computer crime in connection with online comments she made between July 18 and Aug 9, 2021. She is currently free on bail while she appeals.
Piyarat “Toto” Jongthep, another Bangkok MP, faces three charges under Section 112 in connection with his activities as a leader of the WeVo guards during the anti-government protests in 2020 and 2021.
According to data from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights to April 30 this year, 1,954 people have been prosecuted for political participation and expression since the beginning of the Free Youth protests in July 2020. At least 272 are facing lese-majeste charges under Section 112 of the Criminal Code and 152 have been charged with sedition under Section 116.
