“I think everyone should be able to talk openly and constructively about the monarchy,” Anon said. “I think society is becoming more open about this.”
The Royal Palace didn’t comment on Anon’s decision or protesters’ demands for change. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the king had requested that nobody be prosecuted for lese majeste for now.
Anon was arrested inside days of his call for monarchy reform, although on charges unrelated to earlier demonstrations, fueling a protest movement as supporters gathered at a police station before he was released on bail.
Thousands of Thai youth gathered in Bangkok on the testing site
Thousands of Thai youth gathered in Bangkok on the testing site
“We dream of a monarchy coexisting with democracy,” Anon said to the cheers of a crowd of greater than 10,000 in Bangkok on Sunday during Thailand’s largest protest in years. “We have to achieve this within our generation.”
Such comments infuriate royalists.
“His action violates decorum and degrades the honor and prestige of the profession,” said Apiwat Kantong, an adviser within the prime minister’s office who has filed legal complaints against Anon in his private capability.
“His name should be removed from the register of lawyers as soon as possible,” he said. The Lawyers’ Council of Thailand didn’t comment on Apiwat’s request for such motion.
At 35, he’s older than many of the protesting students he advises. He uses his experience from earlier rounds of protests and years of court appearances to defend critics of the federal government.
Anon grew up in a farming family within the poor, rice-growing northeastern province of Roi Et, where opposition to the Bangkok establishment runs deep.
His activism began in highschool and his human rights work began in 2006, when elected populist leader Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown in a military coup.
When Anon qualified as a lawyer in Bangkok, he made it his mission to defend probably the most vulnerable in society.
“Many of the cases he handled involved abuse victims that no one knows about,” said Krisadang Nutcharat, one other human rights lawyer.
In 2010, Anon established a legal practice to assist those affected by the bloody clashes between Thaksin’s supporters and the authorities.
After then-army chief Prayuth took power in a coup in 2014, Anon took up the cases of political activists, including those that had been charged with lese majeste against the monarchy.
“In many cases, the defendants spoke truthfully, but what they said was unacceptable to the general public… The court still found them guilty,” Anon said. “That’s why I became interested in the monarchy.”
The reforms Anon wants within the monarchy include curbing the king’s constitutional powers, which were expanded after he succeeded his late father in 2016, and abolishing lèse-majesté laws.
As Anon increased its political activity following the 2014 coup, arrests began. In 2015, he was charged with organizing a banned political gathering.
Including his latest arrest, he faces 13 charges. Of the six accomplished cases, three were dismissed, and within the remaining cases he faced fines totaling 2,200 baht ($70). Seven cases are pending, including some involving 2018 protests to demand fair elections.
Since Anon is focused on history and literature, a few of his inspirations – in addition to the photo on his Twitter profile – come from the Nineteen Fifties Marxist historian and activist Chit Phumisak, whose publications include: The true face of Thai feudalism.
In his free time, Anon writes poems, most of them inspired by politics. One sentence he wrote after the bloodshed in 2010 reads: “With the red flag raised and the challenge daring, come comrades, stand up and overthrow this thieving state.”
