Thanathorn to be charged with insulting monarchy: minister

Opposition figure Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit will be charged with defaming the monarchy over comments he made at a discussion of a royally produced vaccine, Digital Economy Minister Puttipong Punnakanta said early Wednesday afternoon.

Puttipong on Wednesday afternoon said he ordered his team to file a royal defamation complaint at the Technology Crime Suppression Division after the 42-year-old former head of the progressive opposition criticized the government Monday in a livestream discussion titled “Royal Vaccine: Who Benefits and Who Doesn’t?”

After Thanathorn’s Future Forward Party placed a strong third in the 2019 election, he was quickly disqualified from taking his seat. The courts later ordered the party disbanded and its leaders banned from politics for 10 years.

Around 50 people have been charged under Section 112 of the penal code in recent…