Thai PBS reporter gets bail, lawyer argues for dropped charges
A detained citizen journalist was granted bail after he was arrested on a warrant related to an already closed case regarding Thung Kham’s mine intrusion in 2015.
Thai PBS citizen reporter Jamon Sonpednarin finally obtained his freedom on Friday morning after being captured by the border authority on Wednesday in Kanchanaburi and transferred to Wang Saphung police in Loei.
Local environmentalist group Khon Rak Bankerd came to greet him at the Wang Saphung Police Station.
His lawyer from the Community Resource Centre Foundation, Theeraphan Phankiri, said that police would send the docket on the case to the attorney, who will then decide whether to pursue the case in court on January 8, 2018.
Theeraphan said he would also submit a letter to the attorney arguing that the case against Jamon had already gone to court in 2016, where it was dismissed. The attorney should not pursue a duplicate case, he said.
The warrant stemmed from Thung Kham Company’s May 2015 lawsuit against two activists for trespassing in the area of a copper mine on Phusam Pabon Mountain, where the company claimed to have a land concession.
However, the Loei Provincial Court dismissed the case on November 25, 2016 because the company’s permission to use the land, granted by the Royal Forest Department and Agricultural Land Reform Office, had expired.
