British migrant rights defender Andy Hall found guilty in a shock ruling by Bangkok court

[webfact]

PRESS RELEASE

British migrant rights defender Andy Hall found guilty in a shock ruling by Bangkok court

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok South Criminal Court today announced a shock guilty verdict against British migrant rights defender Andy Hall in a criminal defamation and Computer Crimes Act charges case brought against him by Natural Fruit Company Ltd. The Court found Andy Hall guilty for defamation, sentenced him to prison for four years and ordered him to pay 150 000 baht fine. Imprisonment will be suspended for 2 years.

 

Andy Hall will appeal the ruling and apply for bail.

 

The charges related to publication of a report Cheap Has a High Price in 2013 by Finnwatch, a Finnish civil society organisation. The report outlined allegations of serious human rights violations at Natural Fruit's pineapple processing plant in Prachuap Khiri Khan province in Thailand.

 

”We are shocked by today's verdict. The report was authored and published by Finnwatch; we take full responsibility for it. Andy has been made a scapegoat in order to stiffle other voices that speak out legitimately in support of migrant worker rights,” said Sonja Vartiala, Executive Director of Finnwatch.

 

”This is a sad day for freedom of expression in Thailand. We fear that many other human rights defenders and victims of company abuse will be scared to silence by this ruling,” added Vartiala.

 

”Thailand's laws that allow for criminal punishment and even imprisonment for defamation are in clear breach of Thailand's international human rights obligations. Instead of allowing companies to take human rights defenders to criminal courts for alleged defamation, Thailand needs to thoroughly follow through on allegations of violations of migrant workers' rights.”

 

In October 2014, the Prakanong Court in Bangkok dismissed another criminal defamation case brought by Natural Fruit against Andy Hall on the grounds of a flawed prosecution that was in breach of the Thai Criminal Procedure Law. Appeals in this case, submitted by both Natural Fruit and Thailand's Attorney General, are currently being considered by Thailand's Supreme Court after the Appeals Court threw out an initial appeal in September 2015.

 

In addition to the two criminal cases, Natural Fruit has also filed two civil claims for damages against Andy Hall totalling 400 million baht (approximately 10 million euros). These cases have been but on hold until the corresponding criminal cases have been concluded.

 

Source: http://www.finnwatch.org/en/news/408-andy-hall-found-guilty-in-a-shock-ruling-by-bangkok-court

 

-- Finnwatch 2016-09-20

 

-----------------------------

 

UPDATE:

 

Andy Hall has been placed in custody following the announcement of the court verdict earlier today in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

Finnwatch was able to speak to Andy who despite this shock ruling was in relatively good spirits. Here is some additional information to our press release circulated earlier today:

 

- Andy Hall is currently in custody but will be released when he pays the court ordered fine of 150 000 baht.

 

- Andy Hall's four year prison sentence is a suspended sentence. This means that if Andy Hall does not commit a crime during the two-year suspension period he does not have to serve the four-year sentence in prison.

 

- The Court found Andy Hall guilty of all charges but he did not get a maximum sentence because he has not committed a crime before and because he cooperated with the Court during the trial.

 

- Andy Hall is expected to arrive to Finland on Thursday for talks with Finnish companies and media. He will then travel to Sweden.

 

Source: http://www.finnwatch.org/en/news/408-andy-hall-found-guilty-in-a-shock-ruling-by-bangkok-court

[BritTim]

Disappointing verdict, but not exactly a shock. Natural Fruit was bound to find a compliant court at some point. Andy has a pretty good chance on appeal.

[Tatsujin]

Anyone that's deluded enough to think that this current crop of thieves at the top are any different to anyone before needs to think again.

 

It's all about protecting their revenue streams, nothing more.

 

Corruption continues to live on. Disgusting. And not even subtle about it.

[kingalfred]

HR Noexistent in an undemocratic country

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[canopus1969]

Again Thailand is on center stage worldwide - and made themselves look a total bunch of pr*cks

[colinneil]

Just another showcase trial.

Justice and the rule of law never came into it.

Farang guilty. Guilty for being here. guilty just for being a farang.

[PatOngo]

The truth comes at a price in a place where truth has low relevance.

[DiscoDan]

Great news, he could not back up his claims with evidence in court and that's why he lost simple.

[LomSak27]

Shock ruling?! .... It was expected

Edited September 20, 2016 by LomSak27

[worgeordie]

Does that mean he will now have to pay the Millions of Baht

in compensation, that Natural Fruit demanded.I think it was

a compromise verdict. 

It would have caused a Worldwide condemnation if he actually

had to go to prison.

regards Worgeordie

[jaltsc]

"Bangkok South Criminal Court today announced a shock guilty verdict against British migrant rights defender Andy Hall in a criminal defamation and Computer Crimes Act charges case brought against him by Natural Fruit Company Ltd. The Court found Andy Hall guilty for defamation, sentenced him to prison for four years and ordered him to pay 150 000 baht fine."

 

Once again, Thailand descends another step in the world's opinion of of its "justice system". 

Edited September 20, 2016 by jaltsc

[DavisH]

I guess Mr Hall won't be attending the Expat Fair

[NongKhaiKid]

Can anyone with a better knowledge than I venture an opinion if he'll be quickly shown the door now ?

[Alive]

”This is a sad day for freedom of expression in Thailand."  No, it's not. This has been going on forever but most are willing to ignore everyone else who is being abused. First they came for .... and now it's a sad day. Funny. Slowly the people (Thais and expats)that empowered this regime with their apathy towards it wake up or change their views. I know Andy knew what was going on. I wonder if he will get any support from his home country or are they willing to sacrifice another citizen for business?

[jeca22]

Why not hire foreigners in other countries to write the stories? 

[MaxLee]

Guilty for making influential corrupted Thsi business lose international FACE....

 

oh my FACE palm 

[Alive]

The worst thing about today in Thailand is no one really cares. This guy can go to jail and be forgotten. Thais don't even know what happens in their country and when they hear they don't care. No one gets upset and angry about the abuse going on . No ones cares and the western world with its business first attitudes empowers the abusive governments and corporations. The world needs an enema!

[sirmud63]

44 minutes ago, canopus1969 said:

Again Thailand is on center stage worldwide - and made themselves look a total bunch of pr*cks

yep, shot themselves in the foot with both barrels this time .

[SABloke]

Great news, he could not back up his claims with evidence in court and that's why he lost simple.

Well, it wasn't "his" claims so why did he have to back it up in court. Read the statement from Finnwatch

[pookiki]

Anyone with familiarity with the application and enforcement of Thailand's defamation laws will NOT find this shocking. Any person, foreigner or Thai, runs the risk of a defamation suit by the simple act of filing a police report against a named individual, company, and/or a government institution. Thailand isn't alone in the application of such laws as they are prevalent in most, if not all, ASEAN countries.

 

Reports that document HR rights abuses in Thailand will have to be published abroad without attribution to any specific individual to avoid future problems of this nature.  Under such circumstances, Natural Fruit would have been hard pressed to bring Finnwatch as a defendant in a Thai court. 

Edited September 20, 2016 by pookiki

[DiscoDan]

1 minute ago, sirmud63 said:

yep, shot themselves in the foot with both barrels this time .

 

If someone makes claims about your company that makes you lose money or possibly lose all your customers  don't you think you should have a right to take them to court?

 

 If Andy Hall had hard evidence then he would of been found not guilty.

[DLang]

34 minutes ago, DavisH said:

I guess Mr Hall won't be attending the Expat Fair

 

Nope.

 

He'll be in Finland speaking to the World's media.

 

 

You did read the article.... right?

[Jack Mountain]

Andrew Drummond is not that paranoid/stupid after all ...

[CGW]

Be interesting to see how the BBC & others report this,usually they are very "diplomatic" with any reports from Thailand - if they even bother to report anything!

[canopus1969]

2 minutes ago, CGW said:

Be interesting to see how the BBC & others report this,usually they are very "diplomatic" with any reports from Thailand - if they even bother to report anything!

It's all over the BBC already, quote :  A spokesman for the British embassy in Bangkok said they would be raising the matter with the Thai authorities.

 

Well that's the kiss of death

[steelepulse]

8 minutes ago, DiscoDan said:

 

If someone makes claims about your company that makes you lose money or possibly lose all your customers  don't you think you should have a right to take them to court?

 

 If Andy Hall had hard evidence then he would of been found not guilty.

 

>> If Andy Hall had hard evidence then he would of been found not guilty.

 

Do you really believe that?  Serious question.

[pookiki]

6 minutes ago, DiscoDan said:

 

If someone makes claims about your company that makes you lose money or possibly lose all your customers  don't you think you should have a right to take them to court?

 

 If Andy Hall had hard evidence then he would of been found not guilty.

The answer to your first question is 'yes'. 

 

As for the production of 'hard evidence' there is going to be a natural bias by Thai Courts against the testimony of migrant workers - especially migrant workers from Myanmar. Anyone who has just a limited familiarity of the working conditions of the vast majority of migrant workers knows the abuse that takes place - child labor, slavery, and debt bondage being the most serious. The only viable strategy in curing these serious issues is to get the western companies to vigorously enforce the proper treatment of workers in their supply chain. Thai companies aren't going to change their ways without the threat of economic action or consumer boycotts.

[joeyg]

12 minutes ago, CGW said:

Be interesting to see how the BBC & others report this,usually they are very "diplomatic" with any reports from Thailand - if they even bother to report anything!

I think England is "up to it's eyeballs" in it's own melt down.  if you don't know what happens when you poke a hornets nest, hard, are we sorry for the person that did it?

 

There were much more intelligent approaches to revealing this info if it is true.  Takes "half a brain though."

[CGW]

11 minutes ago, joeyg said:

I think England is "up to it's eyeballs" in it's own melt down.  if you don't know what happens when you poke a hornets nest, hard, are we sorry for the person that did it?

 

There were much more intelligent approaches to revealing this info if it is true.  Takes "half a brain though."

Interesting view, what are you doing about "it" using "half a brain" the BBC in my view has become a disgrace considering they are supposed to report unbiased truth, not what is politically correct or the present governments agenda! 

[ezzra]

 

While Thailand is organizing a sham Farang fair, they also send a strong message

to all would be meddlers, stay away from preaching and criticize Thailand affairs

on any level, if not, see Andy Hall outcome....