On 23 November 2020, the Bangkok South Criminal Court began hearing the combined case against women human rights defenders Angkhana Neelapaijit, Puttanee Kangkun, and Thanaporn Saleephol. The three women human rights defenders are facing defamation charges brought against them by a Thai chicken company, Thammakaset Company Limited, for their social media posts expressing support for other human rights defenders who were being judicially harassed by the company. The next preliminary hearing on the case is to be held on 30 November, and then 18 and 25 January 2021.
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On 25 September 2020, environmental rights defenders of the Khao Lao Yai-Pha Jun Dai forest conservation group were able to successfully reclaim land from a mining project in the Nongbua Lamphu Province. The project had long been impacting the health and environment of the community. This struggle against the mining project, that has lasted over two decades has come with numerous death threats and killings of members of the group. Most recently, since early August 2020, there have been increasing death threats against one of the group’s advisors, Lertsak Kumkongsak.
In July 2018 Jiang Yefei was sentenced to six and a half years in prison on charges of 'inciting subversion of state power' and 'illegally crossing a national border.'
On 23 November 2020, the Bangkok South Criminal Court began hearing the combined case against women human rights defenders Angkhana Neelapaijit, Puttanee Kangkun, and Thanaporn Saleephol. The three women human rights defenders are facing defamation charges brought against them by a Thai chicken company, Thammakaset Company Limited, for their social media posts expressing support for other human rights defenders who were being judicially harassed by the company. The next preliminary hearing on the case is to be held on 30 November, and then 18 and 25 January 2021.
On 22 May 2018, fifteen pro-democracy human rights defenders, including Anon Nampa, Rangsiman Rome, Sirawith Seritiwat, Chonticha Jaengrew and Piyarat Chongthep, were arrested and charged with sedition, with violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings of five people or more, and under the Road Traffic Act for participating in peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in Bangkok.
On 23 January 2018, a lawsuit was filed against eight human rights defenders who are members of the We Walk… Solidarity campaign and march. They are accused of breaching Article 12 of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 3/2558 (NCPO Order 3/2015), which states that political gatherings of five or more persons shall be punished with either a prison sentence of up to six months, a fine not exceeding ten thousand Baht, and/or both, unless permission has been granted by the Head of the NCPO or an authorised representative.
On 29 May 2017, the house of human rights defender Maitree Chamroensuksakul was raided by police while he was returning from a meeting with the U.N. Special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, during an unofficial visit to Bangkok on 26 and 27 May 2017. The raid took place in the the village of Chaiyaphum Pasae, a Lahu human rights defender who was shot dead by military officials earlier this year, during an alleged anti-drug operation in Ban Kong Phak Ping, in the Chiang Dao district of Thailand’s northern Chiang Mai province.
On 20 October 2020, land rights defender Dam Onmuang survived an attempt on his life.
On 22 May 2018, fifteen pro-democracy human rights defenders, including Anon Nampa, Rangsiman Rome, Sirawith Seritiwat, Chonticha Jaengrew and Piyarat Chongthep, were arrested and charged with sedition, with violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings of five people or more, and under the Road Traffic Act for participating in peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in Bangkok.
On 22 May 2018, fifteen pro-democracy human rights defenders, including Anon Nampa, Rangsiman Rome, Sirawith Seritiwat, Chonticha Jaengrew and Piyarat Chongthep, were arrested and charged with sedition, with violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings of five people or more, and under the Road Traffic Act for participating in peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in Bangkok.
On 14 February 2018, the Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC) Region 4 filed defamation charges against human rights defender Ismaael Teh in relation to a television show in which the defender recalled the torture he experienced at the hands of Thai soldiers in 2008.
On 27 July 2017, a Thai Court in Chaiyaphum province found human rights defender Suphap Khamlae guilty of encroaching on forest reserves and sentenced her to six months’ imprisonment under the National Forest Reserve Act. She is the wife of land rights defender Den Khamlae, who was also sentenced in absentia and subject to an arrest warrant despite being missing since April 2016.