Recently elected Thailand lawmaker Rukchanok Srinock was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday. 

Ms Srinock was convicted by a Thailand Court that found her guilty of defaming the monarchy under a controversial law that guards the royal institution – Article 112 of lese majeste, the country’s criminal code. 

The lawmaker was also convicted under the Computer Crime Act. The vague provisions of the Computer Crimes Act as generally applicable to online activities have been criticised as undermining freedom of expression. 

Ms Srinock said she could not attend the first plenary session of her term as a lawmaker because the court refused to postpone the ruling. 

“I submitted a request to postpone (the hearing) because today the new parliament convenes for its first session, but the court refused. So I came to hear the verdict,” she told reporters. 

The 29-year-old politician denied posting the said tweets and called the prosecution’s case “weak.” Although her opponents presented screenshots of the posts, police officials could not find the links. 

She was first arraigned two years ago over two posts she shared on X, formerly Twitter. One of the tweets was deemed to have defamed the monarchy over links to a coronavirus vaccine. The other tweet was an anti-monarchy quote by 18th-century French philosopher Denis Diderot, which she reportedly retweeted. 

Ms Srinock was temporarily freed on bail of 500,000 baht ($14,200). Denying her bail would have immediately resulted in her losing her parliament seat, VOA News reported. 

Human Rights Watch berated the ruling as a violation of Ms Srinork’s right to freedom of expression protected under international human rights law. 

“The prosecution of an opposition member of parliament for two tweets is not only an appalling violation of free expression but sends a chilling message to other outspoken opposition party members to keep silent,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director of the rights organisation, said in a statement sent via email on Thursday. 

“The Thai authorities should quash this sentence and cease prosecuting other cases under the lese majeste law,” she added. 

Ms Srinork attended the ruling in the company of her party leader, who was there to lend support.