# Thai appeals court upholds prison sentence for lawmaker Chonthicha Jangrew
*Event date: 2025-09-30*
An appeals court in Thailand on the event date upheld a two-year prison sentence for opposition lawmaker Chonthicha Jangrew, who was convicted of insulting the monarchy in a speech delivered four years earlier. The court in Bangkok allowed her to remain free on bail while she prepares to take the case to the Supreme Court, keeping the legal pressure on one of the country's best-known progressive politicians.
The AP report says the bail amount was set at 150,000 baht, or about $4,600. It also notes that if bail had been refused, Chonthicha would have been immediately removed from parliament. That detail makes the ruling more than symbolic: in Thailand, a criminal sentence involving the monarchy can quickly affect a politician's ability to sit in office, even before all appeals are exhausted.
The speech at issue came during a 2021 rally, where Chonthicha called for the release of political prisoners and criticized changes that she said gave King Maha Vajiralongkorn greater power. The court had already sentenced her last year to three years in prison, but the punishment was later reduced to two years because of her cooperation. Chonthicha, who is also known by the nickname Lookkate, said before the ruling that her case mattered because it showed how the law restricts freedom of opinion.
The report places the sentence in a larger political environment where criticism of the monarchy remains heavily taboo. Under Thailand's lese majeste law, offending or defaming key royal figures can carry as much as 15 years in prison. The AP account says student-led protests that began in 2020 pushed for reform of that law, but many activists were themselves prosecuted. Chonthicha's own path reflects that history: before winning office in 2023, she was a prominent youth activist, elected first as a member of the Move Forward Party before the party was later dissolved after trying to change the lese majeste law.
This ruling was not her first recent setback. The AP report says she was convicted earlier this month in a separate online-post case and given another prison sentence. Together, the cases show how the legal system continues to be used against reformist politicians in Thailand. For Chonthicha, the latest decision keeps her parliamentary career alive for the moment, but only on bail and only while another appeal moves upward through the courts.
