He was sentenced to 10 years on each count with the 60-year jail term halved after he pleaded guilty, his lawyer, Sasinan Thamnithinan, said.
“It’s broken the record,” she said about the severe jail term, adding that because Pongsak was arrested while Thailand was still under martial law there was no right to appeal against the sentence the military court passed.
Lèse-majesté convictions have surged since Thailand’s generals seized power from the elected government in May 2014.
According to iLaw, a local rights group that monitors such cases, there were just two ongoing prosecutions for royal defamation before the coup. Now that number is at least 56.
Critics of the law say it has been used as a weapon against political enemies of the royalist elite and their military allies and now targets those opposed to the coup.