Laws protecting against insulting of government institutions exist in most countries of the world, but nowhere I heard about 43-year sentence. This conviction carries penalty that is over twice as long as maximum mandatory imprisonment for high felony in European countries.
It shows the difference between law system based on terror of penalty, and law system that attempts to resocialize offenders (see over 1000-year total conviction here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53003685).
Another unfortunate consequence is that Thai prisons are overcrowded and likely to infringe on human rights of detainees: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/14/joint-letter-thailand-de...