Section 200: Prosecutor or investigator helping or framing a person
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดเป็นเจ้าพนักงานในตำแหน่งพนักงานอัยการ ผู้ว่าคดี พนักงานสอบสวนหรือเจ้าพนักงานผู้มีอำนาจสืบสวนคดีอาญาหรือจัดการให้เป็นไปตามหมายอาญา กระทำการหรือไม่กระทำการอย่างใด ๆ ในตำแหน่งอันเป็นการมิชอบ เพื่อจะช่วยบุคคลหนึ่งบุคคลใดมิให้ต้องโทษ หรือให้รับโทษน้อยลง ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่หกเดือนถึงเจ็ดปี และปรับตั้งแต่หนึ่งหมื่นบาทถึงหนึ่งแสนสี่หมื่นบาท ถ้าการกระทำหรือไม่กระทำนั้น เป็นการเพื่อจะแกล้งให้บุคคลหนึ่งบุคคลใดต้องรับโทษ รับโทษหนักขึ้น หรือต้องถูกบังคับตามวิธีการเพื่อความปลอดภัย ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตลอดชีวิต หรือจำคุกตั้งแต่หนึ่งปีถึงยี่สิบปีและปรับตั้งแต่สองหมื่นบาทถึงสี่แสนบาท หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever, being 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, does or omits to do any act in that position improperly, in order to help any person not to be punished or to receive a lighter punishment, shall be liable to imprisonment from six months to seven years and a fine from ten thousand baht to one hundred and forty thousand baht.
If that act or omission is done in order to wrongfully cause any person to be punished, to receive a heavier punishment, or to be subjected to a measure of safety, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment for life, or to imprisonment from one year to twenty years and a fine from twenty thousand baht to four hundred thousand baht.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
The elements are: (1) the offender is an official in the position of public prosecutor, prosecuting officer, or inquiry official; (2) an improper act or omission in conducting a case; and (3) the specific intent to help a person avoid punishment or receive a lighter one. This is the opening provision of the chapter on Malfeasance in Judicial Office, targeting officials who tilt the process in favor of an accused. It is the mirror image of Section 201, which punishes the same officials who improperly act to frame a person or increase their punishment. The offense requires the specific corrupt purpose, not mere error or a good-faith exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
Why this matters in practice
This is a serious anti-corruption offense aimed squarely at prosecutors and investigators, with exposure up to seven years. The decisive element is the improper purpose of helping a person escape or reduce punishment, so a genuine, reasoned exercise of discretion (for example, declining to prosecute a weak case) is not caught. In practice, charges under this section frequently run alongside Section 157 (malfeasance in public office). Officials facing allegations, and complainants who suspect a case was deliberately buried, should both seek criminal law advice in Thailand, as the intent element is the battleground.
Cited in 53 Supreme Court decisions (1960 to 2019)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 2689/2560 (2017)
- Decision 3130/2556 (2013)
- Decision 929/2537 (1994)
- Decision 69/2535 (1992)
- Decision 4436/2531 (1988)
- Decision 975/2531 (1988)
- Decision 2707/2530 (1987)
- Decision 300/2527 (1984)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 157 44
- Section 83 26
- Section 91 18
- Section 310 17
- Section 90 15
- Section 309 9
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
Who can commit the offense under Section 200?
Only officials in the position of public prosecutor, prosecuting officer, or inquiry official. It targets those who improperly handle a case to help someone avoid or reduce punishment.
Is declining to prosecute a weak case an offense under Section 200?
No, not by itself. The offense requires an improper act done with the specific purpose of helping a person escape or reduce punishment, not a genuine, reasoned exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 200 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 200. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-200/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 200 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-200/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-200/"><p>Whoever, being 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, does or omits to do any act in that position improperly, in order to…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 200 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-200/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.