For four of the defendants, the sentences were reduced from four years and four months, which was handed down by a lower court in September 2015. Following the verdict, the court granted bail of Bt500,000 for each of the defendants. Seven leaders from the United Front for

Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) were indicted for causing unrest, an illegal gathering and obstructing the work of authorities. The case stemmed from an incident in July 2007, when the defendants led thousands of red-shirt followers in a demonstration outside Prem’s residence and demanded that he quit the Privy Council.

The seven leaders included four key UDD figures – Veerakan Musigapong, Nattawut Saikua, Wipoothalaeng Pattanapoomthai and Weng Tojirakarn. In 2015, a lower court sentenced the four to four years and four months in jail, and a lesser-known red-shirt leader to two years and eight months’ imprisonment. Two other lesser-known red-shirt leaders were acquitted.

The Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the lower court’s sentence of two years and eight months in prison for the first lesser-known red-shirt leader. The court also sentenced Veerakan, Nattawut, Wipoothalaeng and Weng to two years and eight months in jail, ruling that the lower court had applied an unjustified extra punishment for a single act of wrongdoing.