A hearing of the Constitutional Court ruling on whether or not a speech given by Arnon-Panupong-Panusaya overthrew a regime, without any oral hearings.

On 10 November 2021 at 15.00 hrs., at a courtroom on the third floor, the Constitutional Court is to hear a ruling whether the speeches given by the three human rights defenders; Arnon Nampa, a human rights lawyer; Panupong Jadnok; Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul at the 3 and 10 August 2020 rallies are considered an attempt to overthrow the democratic regime of government with the King as Head of State and whether or not the ruling will prohibit the three defenders from acting upon the speech.

The ruling will have legal implications on other cases related to freedom of expression and assembly of the three defenders and others who face similar charges.

The lawsuit was initiated by Nuttapol Toprayoon, who had initiated the ruling to dissolve the Future Forward Party in 2019.

Before the ruling, the Court did not schedule any oral hearings, despite the lawyers having submitted applications to hear the defenders and scholars as a right to self-defense. The Court solely considered motion, objection motion, and documents from relevant government agencies – Attorney of General, Khlong Luang Police Station at Pathum Thani province, Thai Royal Police Headquarter, National Security Council, National Intelligence Agency, and Thammasat University – which were inquired by the Court.

The ruling of the Constitution Court shall be final and binding on the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers, Courts, Independent Organs, and State agencies, particularly the Criminal Court, pursuant to Article 211 of the Thai Constitution 2017.

Regarding the case, Nuttapol had submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court on 3 September 2020 to review the following political speeches given on 3 and 10 August 2020 at the #HarryPotter-Themed rally and #ThammasatWillNotTolerate rally;

Arnon Nampa gave a speech on 3 and 10 August 2020 related to an expansion of the king’s prerogative in the revision of the Thai Constitution 2017, amendment of the budget act, monarchical reformation, and public discussion on monarchical issues.
Panupong Jadnok gave a speech on 10 August 2020 related to a history of absolute monarchy and the role of monarchy in Thai society and calling for expression related to monarchy.
Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul gave a speech on 10 August 2020 proposing monarchical reformation with ten demands, e.g., to abolish Lèse-majesté law, to decrease the monarchical budget according to the economic situation, to conduct fact finding on the assasination of people who criticized monarchy, etc.