Political amnesty in force, but not automatic: what happens next under the Peaceful Society Act, which excludes Section 112

On 23 August 2026 the Royal Gazette published the Act on Promoting a Peaceful Society B.E. 2569 (2026), which takes effect to grant a political amnesty for assembly or political expression arising from political conflict or political motivation, committed between 1 January 2005 and 16 July 2025.

The Act does, however, expressly exclude offenses of corruption or malfeasance, offenses under Section 112 of the Criminal Code, and offenses causing the death of another or causing grievous bodily harm to another under Section 297 of the Criminal Code (Section 3).

As to procedure, although the Act is now in force, those who fall within its scope will not receive an amnesty automatically. The Committee for Promoting a Peaceful Society is currently in the process of being established, so that it can issue the relevant criteria and set up a channel through which interested parties may go on to petition for an amnesty (Sections 4 and 6).

Once the Committee for Promoting a Peaceful Society has been established, it must hold its first meeting within 30 days of the date the Act came into force — that is, by 23 September 2026 (Section 4, paragraph 3).

After that first meeting, the Committee must complete its work within 180 days (about six months). If it has not finished its consideration, the period may be extended no more than twice, by no more than 90 days each time (a further six months in total) (Section 12).

At present, then, matters await the establishment of the Committee and its announcement of the criteria for requesting an amnesty. Interested parties will submit their requests for an amnesty in the cases concerned after the Committee has announced those criteria and the channel for applying.

The Committee is given the power to determine conclusively whether a case in which an amnesty has been requested meets the conditions for amnesty under this Act.

At the same time, in cases of political expression that are before the courts, cases have begun to appear since the Act came into force in which the court has itself ordered the proceedings terminated, on the view that they fall within the Act — under Section 8, which enables mechanisms within the justice process to bring cases to an end. These include the case for assembly in violation of the Emergency Decree at #Mob16AugToToppleTyrants in 2021. The approach taken to this question in other cases remains to be monitored.

Summary of the conditions and effects of the Act on Promoting a Peaceful Society

1. To qualify for an amnesty, the offense must be “an act of a person taking part in political assembly or political expression, arising from political conflict or political motivation,” must be an offense specified in the schedule annexed to the Act, and includes connected offenses (Section 7).

It remains to be seen whether an offense that is not in the annexed schedule, and has not been specifically excluded, but is connected to a political assembly or expression, will fall within the amnesty.

2. It must arise from political conflict or political motivation, between 1 January 2005 and 16 July 2025 (Section 7).

3. The effects where a case receives an amnesty:

(1) If the case is at the investigation stage, or before the public prosecutor, the investigation or the prosecution is to be halted or discontinued (Section 8, paragraph 1).

(2) If the case is before any court, that court is to terminate the proceedings and strike the case from the docket (Section 8, paragraph 1).

(3) If the court has already given judgment imposing a penalty, the person is deemed never to have been the subject of a judgment that they committed the offense; and if the person is serving a sentence, the punishment ends and the person is to be released (Section 8, paragraph 2).

(4) Where a criminal record of the offender has been made, or a record kept as a criminal record, that record ceases to have effect, and the agencies concerned are to delete the criminal record (Section 8, paragraph 3).

4. Where civil liability is involved:

(1) Civil liability owed to a State agency comes to an end (Section 9).

(2) Civil liability owed to a private person does not bar that person from claiming damages (Section 10).

5. For children or young persons under the age of 18: where the case does not qualify for an amnesty under this Act, they may request the Committee to draw up a “rehabilitation plan” and send it to the public prosecutor, so that measures may be used to bring the case to an end without a judgment under the Juvenile and Family Court and Procedure Act. This does not extend to cases under Section 112 of the Criminal Code (Section 11).

From Thai Lawyers for Human Rights’ monitoring of children’s and young persons’ cases arising since 2020, cases against children and young persons arising from political assembly that were not prosecuted under Section 112 were in any event already likely to qualify for an amnesty under other provisions. Only Section 112 cases were excluded, by Section 3. Yet this section excludes them a second time, and so has almost no practical effect.