Section 264 — Two-Year Bar on Refiling a Pardon Petition
Statutory text (Thai original)
เรื่องราวขอพระราชทานอภัยโทษอย่างอื่นซึ่งมิใช่โทษประหารชีวิต ถ้าถูกยกหนหนึ่งแล้ว จะยื่นใหม่อีกไม่ได้จนกว่าจะพ้นสองปีนับแต่วันถูกยกครั้งก่อน
English translation
A petition requesting a royal pardon in respect of a penalty other than the death penalty, if it has once been rejected, may not be submitted again until two years have elapsed from the date of the previous rejection.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified — always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
This section imposes a waiting period to prevent repeated pardon petitions for the same non-capital penalty. Once a petition has been rejected, section 264 bars any fresh petition for two years measured from the date of the previous rejection. It complements section 262, which limits a death-penalty petition to a single submission, and reflects the same policy of preventing the clemency process from being used to stall enforcement indefinitely. Read with section 263, which confirms enforcement continues throughout, the practical picture is that a rejected petitioner keeps serving the sentence and must wait two years to try again.
Why this matters in practice
The deadline here is unforgiving: a rejected non-capital petition locks out any refiling for two full years, so a first petition should be as strong as it can be rather than treated as a trial run. Track the rejection date carefully, because the two-year clock runs from it. Because the sentence continues to run in the meantime under section 263, there is rarely any tactical advantage in a rushed, weak petition. If you are timing or preparing a fresh petition, an online consultation with a Thai lawyer can confirm when the bar lifts and how to strengthen the submission.
Frequently asked questions
How soon can I refile a pardon petition after it is rejected?
For a non-death penalty, section 264 bars a new petition until two years have passed from the date the previous petition was rejected.
When does the two-year waiting period start?
It runs from the date the earlier petition was rejected, not from sentencing or from when you first filed.