Protest leaders fined for trespass
Well-wishers offer roses to an unidentified member from the Assembly of the Poor at Khon Kaen’s provincial court yesterday. The court gave suspended jail terms to seven organisers of the group following a protest in 1999.
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Seven organisers of a May 1999 protest in Khon Kaen were yesterday sentenced to suspended two-year jail terms and fined Bt5,000 for trespassing on government property.
The seven had been charged in the Khon Kaen Provincial Court with using a Bank of Thailand branch office as a rally site without authorisation. The court found Bamrung Kayotha, Pipatchai Pimhin, and Barami Chairat - all advisers to the Assembly of the Poor - and Weerapol Sopa, Son Roopsung, Uaychai Watha and Sunthorn Vetyanant guilty of trespass. The BOT complained that the 1,000-strong farmers' protest caused it more than Bt300 million in financial damage because the bank was unable to conduct business during the protest. The seven said yesterday they would not appeal against their sentences. The protest occurred during the Chuan administration and police decided not to prosecute at the time. However, the case was reinvestigated during the Thaksin administration. "The Thaksin government was angry we never stopped fighting for justice for farmers and refused to kow-tow to it. So, it ordered police to reinvestigate the case,'' Uaychai alleged. He claimed the Thaksin government sought to halt the group's activities after it attacked its administration and led protests of farmers against it.
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