Supinya says no to settlement with Shin Corp
Supinya Klangnarong, secretary general of the Campaign for Media Reform, Friday rejected to enter into an out-of-court settlement and urged plaintiff Shin Corp to drop the Bt400 million defamation lawsuit against her under its own volition.
“If Shin Corp is sincere, it should notify its intent to drop the litigation directly to the court,” she said.The plaintiff contacted Supinya on Tuesday offering to drop her libel charge under the undisclosed settlement. Backing Supinya’s decision, the media advocacy group issued a five-point statement questioning the plaintiff’s motive. The litigation is in the public interest and any decision relating to it should be made under the public scrutiny instead of behind closed doors, the statement said. Supinya has been sued in her capacity as a public advocate fighting for media reform which is a public issue and not a personal affair, it said. The Shin Corp has failed to spell out the reason for its about-turn, it added. The final two points are that media freedom is at stake so as to warrant the verdict to be reached on March 15 as scheduled and that the plaintiff should explain its decision to the public. Supinya said she would agree to settle the court battle if Shin Corp made the announcement to embrace the media freedom. She is fighting her defamation charge after criticising Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for violating the conflict of interest laws by enriching his family’s Shin Corp.
|
