The court asked the Constitution Court to rule whether the newspaper could invoke press-freedom guarantees as immunity against libel charges, a key question to determine the merit of the case against the Bangkok Post.

Airports of Thailand, which is in charge of Suvarnarbhumi's construction, sued the Post and its editor Kovit Sanandang over the report despite a voluntary retraction.

Defence lawyer Suwit Apaisak sought a ruling on press freedom as enshrined in Articles 39 and 41 of the Constitution.

Suwit said the plaintiff had no justification to prosecute the Post's management instead of a source in a report who made a possibly libellous claim.

The plaintiff invoked Article 48 of the Printing Act to hold staff accountable for the alleged libel.

The provision stipulates that an injured party is entitled to sue the newspaper's management and editorial staff if the source of the news report can not be identified.