A Thai court sentenced pro-democracy activist Arnon Nampa to a further two years and eight months in prison for insulting the monarchy, taking his total sentence to more than 34 years.
The criminal court in the capital Bangkok found Nampa and four other defendants guilty on Friday of insulting the monarchy at a protest on 25 November 2020 outside the headquarters of Siam Commercial Bank in Bangkok, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said.
The court sentenced each of the five to four years in prison and then cut each term to two years and eight months, because their testimony was partly useful to the proceedings.
Friday's verdict was one of 14 cases brought against Nampa under the law, and verdicts in two are still to come.
The sentences from each case count towards a cumulative total, which stood at 31 years and nine months before Friday, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said in February, so the extra two years and eight months takes it to more than 34 years.
Nampa's lawyer, Krisadang Nutcharut, told AFP that three of the five defendants sentenced on Friday were already serving sentences from earlier convictions.
Nampa, a 42-year-old human rights lawyer, has been in prison since 2023 on convictions linked to the protests and his social media posts.
At the 2020 protest he was calling for greater transparency over the transfer of shares in Siam Commercial Bank from the Crown Property Bureau, which manages the royal family's assets, Mr Krisadang said.
Thai king Maha Vajiralongkorn is the largest shareholder in the bank's parent company, SCBx, with 23.6 per cent, according to SCBx's website.
"It is now clear that the law has become a political tool used against opponents," Mr Krisadang told AFP.
Nampa told reporters after the verdict that it did not surprise him.
"If the country was more open, we would be able to talk about these issues freely," he said.
The law, article 112 of the Thai criminal code, punishes anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent with three to 15 years in prison.
Thai officials defend it as reflecting the country's culture and history, in which the monarchy is highly revered by most Thais, and critics say it is used to silence dissent.
More than 290 people have been prosecuted under it since 2020, including 20 under the age of 18, with sentences of up to 50 years.
Nampa rose to prominence in the youth-led protests of 2020, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets to call for reform of the military-drafted constitution and the monarchy.
At one rally in Bangkok in August that year he gave a speech dressed as Harry Potter, calling for the monarchy to be scrutinised.
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