Tha-ngai also said that he believes Ampon was a member of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) or Red Shirts, and that the Internal Security Operations Command has blacklisted him.

The charge stated that Ampon, using his mobile phone, sent four different short messages to Somkiat at different times: The public prosecutor applied to the Criminal Court to impose on Ampon the penalties under the Criminal Code, section 112 (insulting or bringing into hatred or contempt the King and Queen), and the Act on Computer-Related Offences, BE 2550 (2007), section 14 (2) and (3) (bringing into a computer system certain forged or false information likely to jeopardise another person, the general public or national security).

[5][6] The chamber examined evidence on 21 March[7] and placed Ampon under detention again in the course of the trial, citing the reason that "The act against the King, Queen and Heir Apparent is of serious nature affecting the sentiment of all Thais.

[5] Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai academic in Singapore, in 2011, launched a nationwide campaign to free Ampon and to inform the public of the impact caused by Article 112.

[5] The public prosecutor introduced as witnesses Somkiat Khrongwatthanasuk, the police officers in charge of the investigation, two daughters of Ampon, and two mobile use information collectors from DTAC and True Move.

In presenting his evidence, Ampon, still pleading not guilty, introduced his counsel and relatives as witnesses to prove his innocence as well as his loyalty and respect to the King and Queen.

[8] The Criminal Court found that:[6] "The prosecutor could not expressly prove that the defendant sent the messages as mentioned in the charge ... but the grounds for his ability to introduce any eyewitness are the serious nature of the offence in question to such an extent that a person intending to commit it would conduct the commission in absence of others ...

[5][6] The judgment was pronounced on 23 November, through a videoconferencing system from the Criminal Court to the Khlong Prem Prison where Ampon was detained, as the 2011 flood prevented his personal appearance.

[9] The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights commented that the Criminal Code, section 112, and the law on computer-related offences were used in the name of the security protection to violate the freedom of expression, and called for a provisional release of Ampon in the course of the trial.

[13] The Midnight University accused the Thai judiciary of failure to give Ampon a fair trial, saying that a "section 112" defendant always meets with obstructions from the beginning to the end of a case, especially when asking for a provisional release.

[14] In the same show, commentator Nidhi Eoseewong stated that he was deeply moved by a long sentence imposed on an aged and ailing man, and remarked that "Justice does not float in the sky, but it does lie in the heart of the society in each period of time ...

"[14] In his article "Uncle SMS has no compassion for his own crime", Sitthisak Wanachaikit, Court of Justice spokesperson, wrote that "According to the charge, the Defendant was sixty one.

He was not too old to the extent requiring the care and support from another ... not as old as a grandpa ... No one would want to see a person, whose inborn trait is evil and who intends harm towards society, the chief institution of the Nation and the revered monarchy, getting off scot-free.

[1] Thida Thavornseth, UDD leader, raised doubt in his death and took part in a postmortem inquiry held by the Ministry of Justice's Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS).

A forensic team headed by Police Major General Narongsak Saowakhon was in charge of the inquiry, in which several members of the Pheu Thai Party (PTP) also participated as observers.

[29] The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) released a statement offering condolences on Ampon's death and criticizing the conditions of Thai detention centers as falling "far short of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners".

The AHRC also called for the abolition of lèse majesté as a criminal offence, stating: "In the years since the coup on September 19, 2006, many people have paid a high price for alleged disloyalty to the monarchy, with sentences whose length is comparable to those for persons convicted of drug trafficking and murder.

[34] Actress Bongkot Kongmalai expressed her happiness over Ampon's death in her Facebook status, describing it was his pāpa, generating a wave of criticism[35] and causing her to delete the post.

[8] U.K. MP Kerry McCarthy, a Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, raised the issue of Ampon's death in the British Parliament, asking what action David Cameron's government intended to take in response.