Former judge says Phuket case highlights Thailand’s anti-SLAPP safeguards

A Criminal Court decision dismissing a lawsuit brought by a former Phuket provincial administrative officer has been cited by former senior Supreme Court judge Was Tingsamitr as an important development in Thailand’s efforts to prevent retaliatory lawsuits against complainants.

The court dismissed the case at the complaint-screening stage on 24 July 2026, without holding a preliminary inquiry, according to a report cited by Tingsamitr in a Facebook post on 1 August.

The former official had sued a landowner on allegations of making a false report and defamation. The landowner had reported an alleged demand for B1 million in exchange for changing land-possession documents, the report said.

Tingsamitr said the court found preliminary indications that the lawsuit had been filed in bad faith and used Section 161/1 of Thailand’s Criminal Procedure Code to dismiss it before the case proceeded further.

He said the decision should not be understood as a ruling that the B1 million demand occurred, or that the former official had been found guilty of accepting a bribe. Rather, he said, the court had assessed whether the lawsuit was being used improperly against someone who had made a corruption complaint.

The case comes after the President of the Supreme Court issued guidance on bad-faith criminal proceedings on 25 May 2026. The guidance was published in the Royal Gazette on 29 May and sets out circumstances that may indicate improper litigation, including harassment or intimidation, excessive hardship for the defendant, pressure to secure an improper benefit, and knowingly presenting false facts or withholding material information from the court.

Tingsamitr described the Phuket case as a potential example of Thailand’s anti-SLAPP approach. The term refers to measures intended to prevent court proceedings from being used to intimidate or financially burden people who raise matters of public interest.