Elderly woman pays a heavy price for NCPO’s forest policy

[webfact]

Elderly woman pays a heavy price for NCPO’s forest policy

By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA 
THE NATION

 

The Appeals Court upholds the lower court’s verdict yesterday and sentences Srinuan Pasang to five months and 10 days in jail for encroaching on the Sai Thong National Park.

 

61 year-old jailed, ordered to pay Bt150,000 fine, vacate land despite getting farming okay in 1985

 

THE APPEALS Court upheld a lower court’s verdict yesterday and sentenced a 61-year-old woman to five months and 10 days in jail for encroaching on Sai Thong National Park in Chaiyaphum province. 

 

Srinuan Pasang has also been ordered to pay Bt150,000 (plus 7.5 per cent annual interest) to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and to vacate the land.

 

Somnuek Tumsupap, a legal adviser for the Land Reform Network, said his team will not post bail for Srinuan as the charge does not carry a long prison term. The elderly woman, who suffers chronic ailments, was put behind bars yesterday. 

 

The park officials – acting in line with the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)’s Forest Reclamation Policy – have alleged that Srinuan’s tapioca plantation in Tambon Huai Yae of Nong Bua Rawe district encroaches on the park’s forest area by more than six rai (0.96 hectares).

 

In July 2018, the lower court convicted Srinuan despite her argument that she had inherited the land for farming before the national park was created.

 

She also called on state agencies to survey her land and clearly demarcate the limits of the national park. 

 

She said she had moved to the land with her husband in 1985 and that forest officials had given her approval to use the land – which her husband’s family had long occupied – as per a Cabinet resolution in 1998. She said she had farmed the land so her four children could complete their secondary education. She also noted that in 2014-2015, she had signed a document giving up the 3 rai to the authorities, but when they showed up again to reclaim the remaining 24 rai, she had refused to sign. She was arrested while ploughing the land. 

 

“If I am to be jailed, so be it. We still need to make a living, as we have no other place,” she said.

 

Srinuan was among the 14 villagers prosecuted and sentenced to jail terms ranging from four months to four years in 19 cases related to encroachment into Sai Thong National Park. Somnuek said several defendants faced two cases each, adding that six more villagers will hear their Appeals Court verdicts later this month. 

 

The lawyer expects the Appeals Court to uphold the lower court verdicts for the rest of the defendants, as was the case for Srinuan and land-rights activist Nittaya Muangklang. 

 

Early last month, the Appeals Court sentenced Nittaya to four months in jail and Bt40,000 in fines for encroaching on Sai Thong National Park. She is slated to hear the Appeals Court verdict on a second lawsuit today. Somnuek said his team will take Nittaya’s case to the Supreme Court before the deadline for an appeal against the Appeals Court verdict for her will expire on June 14, by emphasising that the villagers had lived on and used the land before the NCPO implemented its Forest Reclamation Policy.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30370549

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-06-05

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[Bluespunk]

deleted 

Edited June 4, 2019 by Bluespunk

[Odysseus123]

My goodness-what a country!

 

And yes..<deleted>..as well.

[ratcatcher]

        Worth a thousand words.

[steven100]

someone needs to help this poor old girl ....

[canuckamuck]

 Her crime: not having well connected friends.

[doremifasol]

 

Not good.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by doremifasol

[neeray]

Nice ! A consensus amongst members on this thread so far.

[mikebell]

The gulf between the rich and poor just widened.  There is no justice in Thailand unless the case gets referred to the Higher Court of Facebook.

[canopy]

It would have been nice to have a balanced article. Her side of the story is compelling, but her comments need scrutinized by the forestry department especially since the justice department has ruled in favor of the prosecution twice already. There is more to this than she is telling.

 

[worgeordie]

The poor ,go straight to prison.

regards Worgeordie

[BritManToo]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

THE APPEALS Court upheld a lower court’s verdict yesterday and sentenced a 61-year-old woman to five months and 10 days in jail for encroaching on Sai Thong National Park in Chaiyaphum province. 

Thailand, claims to respect the elderly but shows no mercy, no matter what their nationality.

[neeray]

A suspended sentence would have been a nice gesture.

[MRToMRT]

Dont get so hot under the collar, theres a whole back story missing here, including previous court appearances.

 

 

 

 

 

[Charlie1]

One of the really great achievements of Prayuth & Co. That's what they're good at, harassing the small people.

[ZeVonderBearz]

The scar of Doi Suthep housing estate still going strong. This ladies land will be probably a housing estate too by the time she gets out of jail.

[seajae]

big problem in Thailand is that people(rich and poor) think they can just do as they please and take land they dont own or have a legal right too, we see it all the time but its usually rich people doing it to build resorts etc. Unfortunately the poor also do it, we have also seen this before as well, the govt gave her a way out going by the story by giving back the disputed land but she refused, simply farming it does not mean its yours, thai people need to understand unless you have legal documentation to the land they occupy  it belongs to someone else, just a pity that this involves an old lady

[Jack Mountain]

61?

 

elderly

 [el´der-le]

aged.

frail elderly

1. individuals over 65 years old who have functional impairments.

2. sometimes used to describe any adult over 75 years old.

[300sd]

The park is approximately 200,000 rai now! 

 

She used 6 to bring up her family. You are a good woman and this is a pathetic story.

Edited June 5, 2019 by 300sd

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, steven100 said:

someone needs to help this poor old girl ....

While I sympathise with this lady... many farmers regardless of age are encroaching & farming on national park land. They farm & take the profits but claim to be victims when caught!

Age is of no concern in law.. guilt is guilty, many use age as ignorance!

[Galactus]

there are lots of high end villas, resorts, hotels, buildings encroached over national parks or land belong to the government.

and of course nothing happens to those rich people encroached on illegal land.

yet, a 61 years poor old lady was jailed for a mere amount of land used for farming!

such a nonsense.