Dam protester's 2-year sentence suspended
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Phaijit Silarak and his supporters cheered after the Supreme Court yesterday suspended his two-year sentence for leading a protest of villagers 10 years ago at the Rasi Salai Dam in Si Sa Ket.
A leader of the PMOVE group and member of the Assembly of the Poor, Phaijit is required to report to probation officers twice during the one-year suspension.
Phaijit said he was happy that Supreme Court judges understood his cause and comprehended the grievances of villagers who had to endure the impacts from the dam’s operations, including the lengthy closure of its discharge gates.
“The intent of the protest was to protect nature, which had changed and affected their lives, while the villagers’ trespassing on the dam’s office and operating centre was secondary. Under the previous constitution, the protest is regarded as lacking primary intent to trespass on a government compound,” he said.
Phaijit had been convicted on charges of property damage, trespassing state property and restraint of individual freedom for leading the protest on May 19, 2000. The rally started outside the dam, then he and other villagers forced their way into the dam’s compound and held some dam officials captive.
Wasant Phanich, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, said the protest took place after the 1997 constitution went into effect, which endorsed freedom of speech and peaceful protests. This was instrumental in securing yesterday’s ruling in favour of Phaijit.
The villagers had demanded that the dam gates be open longer to return eco-conditions to before the dam was built in 1993.
The Si Sa Ket provincial court also accepted a defamation complaint lodged by the Assembly of the Poor against former social development and human security minister Issara Somchai.
In response to a protest by villagers against the Pak Mun Dam project in Ubon Ratchathani, Issara said the villagers had failed in managing a cooperative so there was not one baht left.
The court set the first hearing on the Issara case for March 15.
