Thai court says calls for royal reform may be seditious

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Constitutional Court has ruled that three pro-democracy activists who called for reform of the monarchy were attempting to overthrow the nation’s system of government with the king as head of state. The ruling banned any similar activities in the future by the activists and their organizations. It also appeared to broadly deter calls for reform of the monarchy by highlighting legal liabilities beyond a royal anti-defamation law under which more than 150 activists have been charged in the past two years. The ruling came in response to a complaint by a royalist lawyer who accused the activists of attempting to overthrow “the democratic system of government with the king as head of state.”