The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced 11 former red-shirt protesters to prison for their roles in the 2010 anti-government demonstrations in Bangkok, which ended in a military crackdown that left scores dead and thousands injured.
The defendants, supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, were found guilty of violating emergency decrees imposed during the protests aimed at toppling then-premier Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Five protest leaders, including Jatuporn Prompan, were handed four years and four months in prison, while six others received four-month sentences. Two defendants were acquitted.
The case initially involved 13 defendants, but one has since died and another has fled abroad.
“We respect the court’s verdict,” Jatuporn said after the ruling, adding that his legal team would seek bail pending appeal.
In recent years, Jatuporn has become an outspoken critic of Thaksin and joined demonstrations earlier this year calling for the ouster of the Pheu Thai-led government.
The other four leaders sentenced alongside him were Weerakarn Musikapong, Nattawut Saikuar, Dr. Weng Tojirakarn, and Adisorn Piangket. Mr. Adisorn is currently shielded by parliamentary immunity.
In 2010, tens of thousands of protesters, known by their red attire, occupied key intersections in Bangkok, establishing fortified protest camps and clashing with security forces.
The unrest paralyzed parts of the capital for more than two months before soldiers used live ammunition to disperse demonstrators from central Bangkok.
Human Rights Watch reported that at least 90 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured during the violence.
In 2012, authorities charged Abhisit and his deputy Suthep Thaugsuban with murder over the deadly crackdown, but both were later acquitted.
Tarit Pengdit, the former chief of the Department of Special Investigation who pursued those charges, was himself convicted of malfeasance in 2023 and sentenced to two years in prison.
Thaksin, ousted in a 2006 military coup, fled Thailand in 2008 before being convicted of conflict of interest and abuse of power. He returned to the country in August 2023 and was taken directly to court and then to prison to serve his sentence.
He is currently serving a one-year term in a Bangkok prison after the Supreme Court ruled last month that his 2023 sentence had not been properly enforced. Thaksin spent six months in a VIP hospital suite after reportedly suffering chest pains on his first night behind bars.
