Man jailed
© Chromorange / Global Look Press
A Thai man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for Facebook posts deemed insulting to the royal family, media and human rights groups have said. The sentence is one of the harshest ever recorded in the kingdom for such an offense.

The man, identified as Vichai Thepwong, 34, pleaded guilty to 10 separate violations of Thai Criminal Code section 112, which states it is illegal to insult or defame members of the royal family, iLaw, a group that tracks royal defamation cases, reported.

"The court punished him with seven years per count. Altogether he was given 70 years, but it was reduced in half because he confessed," said Yingcheep Atchanont from iLaw, as cited by AFP.

According to AFP and iLaw, Vichai, a former insurance salesman, made the insults deemed insulting to royals between September and October 2015. He allegedly posted photos and videos of the royal family on an account on Facebook that belonged to a different user. ILaw reported that Bhumibol Adulyadej, the late Thai king, was featured in some photos.

Vichai was arrested in December 2015 and held in a Bangkok prison after he initially refused to plead guilty. He is not planning an appeal against the verdict.

"He wants the case to end, and wants to petition for a royal pardon," Khumklao Songsonboon, from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, told Reuters.

Reuters cited iLaw as saying that Vichai's conviction "is the longest sentence for Article 112 verdicts ever recorded." According to the group, the second-harshest conviction carried was a 30-year sentence in 2015.