Section 86: Supporter or accessory to an offence
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดกระทำด้วยประการใด ๆ อันเป็นการช่วยเหลือ หรือให้ความสะดวกในการที่ผู้อื่นกระทำความผิดก่อนหรือขณะกระทำความผิด แม้ผู้กระทำความผิดจะมิได้รู้ถึงการช่วยเหลือหรือให้ความสะดวกนั้นก็ตาม ผู้นั้นเป็นผู้สนับสนุนการกระทำความผิด ต้องระวางโทษสองในสามส่วนของโทษที่กำหนดไว้สำหรับความผิดที่สนับสนุนนั้น
English translation
Whoever, by any means whatever, aids or facilitates another person's commission of an offence, before or at the time of the commission, even though the offender is not aware of that aid or facilitation, is a supporter in the commission of the offence and shall be liable to two thirds of the punishment prescribed for the offence supported.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 86, in Book 1 within the Title on Principals and Supporters, defines accessory liability. Its elements are: conduct that aids or facilitates another's offence, by any means, occurring before or at the time of the commission, and directed at an offence that is in fact committed by the principal. A distinctive feature is that the principal need not be aware of the help, so one-sided assistance still counts. The supporter is liable to two thirds of the penalty for the offence supported, the same fraction as an ordinary attempt but plainly less than a co-principal's full penalty under section 83. The line from section 83 is participation versus mere assistance; the line from section 84 is helping an offence versus causing it. Note that special statutes can override the two-thirds rule: in some narcotics offences a supporter is made liable to the same penalty as a principal.
Why this matters in practice
For an accessory, the practical stakes are whether the role was mere assistance, capped at two thirds under section 86, or full participation as a co-principal under section 83 at the whole penalty, so characterising the conduct is central. Watch for the special-law trap: in certain narcotics prosecutions a governing statute makes the supporter liable to the same punishment as the principal, stripping away the two-thirds discount, so the default under the Penal Code should not be assumed. Because the principal's awareness is irrelevant, providing tools, information or access can attract liability even without any agreement with the offender.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 4040/2567 (2024)
A person who aids the commission of an offence is a supporter under section 86 and is convicted and punished on that basis.
The Supreme Court reversed an acquittal and found the defendant guilty of supporting participation in a transnational organised crime, under the special statute read with section 86, sentencing the defendant as a supporter before reducing the term for a useful investigation statement.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 7422/2568 (2025)
Under a special narcotics statute a supporter may be made liable to the same punishment as the principal, overriding the two-thirds reduction that section 86 otherwise provides.
In a narcotics prosecution charged under the special measures act together with section 86, the decision records that the defendant was liable to the same penalty as a principal, illustrating how a special statute can displace the ordinary two-thirds cap for supporters.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 643 Supreme Court decisions (1962 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 3555/2568 (2025)
- Decision 8208/2568 (2025)
- Decision 1488/2567 (2024)
- Decision 238/2567 (2024)
- Decision 4009/2566 (2023)
- Decision 3637/2565 (2022)
- Decision 3477/2565 (2022)
- Decision 2700/2565 (2022)
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 83 510
- Section 91 313
- Section 78 278
- Section 90 231
- Section 157 154
- Section 29 117
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
What penalty does a supporter face in Thailand?
Under section 86 a supporter is liable to two thirds of the punishment prescribed for the offence supported, which is less than a co-principal's full penalty under section 83.
Can you be a supporter if the main offender did not know you helped?
Yes. Section 86 expressly covers aid or facilitation even where the offender is not aware of it, so one-sided help before or during the offence can still make you a supporter.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 86 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 86. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-86/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 86 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-86/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-86/"><p>Whoever, by any means whatever, aids or facilitates another person's commission of an offence, before or at the time of the commission, even though the offender is not aware of that aid or facilitation, is a supporter in the commission of the offence and shall…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 86 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-86/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.