Section 200: Prosecutor or investigator helping or framing a person

Firm annotation

The elements are: (1) the offender is an official in the position of public prosecutor, prosecuting officer, inquiry official, or an official having the power to investigate criminal cases or to carry out a criminal warrant; (2) an improper act or omission in that position; and (3) a specific purpose. This is the opening provision of the chapter on Malfeasance in Judicial Office, and it covers both directions of that abuse in its own two paragraphs. The first paragraph reaches the official who tilts the process in favour of a person, to help them avoid punishment or receive a lighter one, and carries six months to seven years with a fine of 10,000 to 140,000 baht. The second paragraph reaches the official who tilts it against a person, in order to cause them wrongfully to be punished, to receive a heavier punishment, or to be subjected to a measure of safety, and is far graver: imprisonment for life, or one to twenty years with a fine of 20,000 to 400,000 baht. Framing is therefore Section 200's own second paragraph and not a separate section; Section 201 is a different offence altogether, the bribery of a judge, public prosecutor, case prosecutor or inquiry official. The offence requires the specific purpose, not mere error or a good-faith exercise of prosecutorial discretion.