Karen dismayed as Phetchaburi forest eviction upheld
A centenarian and five other ethnic Karen plaintiffs have won compensation after forestry officials burnt down their homes in Phetchaburi’s Kaeng Krachan National Park in 2012 – but not the right to return to the place they had long called home.
Although the Supreme Administrative Court on Tuesday ruled in their favour, the six – including the Karen community’s 107-year-old spiritual leader Ko-I – expressed dismay at the verdict.
“Actually, we don’t want money. Grandpa Ko-I just wants to go back home,” Ko-I’s granddaughter-in-law Pinnapa Prueksaphan said after hearing the court’s ruling.
Ko-I is also a leading campaigner for the rights of the Karen people. One of his grandsons, Pholachi “Billy” Rakchongcharoen, disappeared in 2014 after last being seen in the custody of forestry officials. His suspected enforced disappearance made international headlines.
Pinnapa is the wife of Billy, whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown. Then-park superintendent Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn is reportedly the prime suspect in the disappearance, though the case investigation has stalled.