Thai activist to appeal sentence for trespassing national park

BANGKOK: A Thai activist charged with trespassing after refusing to abandon farmland in a national park said yesterday that she will appeal her sentence, which campaigners said set a harsh precedent for land rights cases involving forest dwellers.

Earlier this month, a court in Chaiyaphum province in the northeast, sentenced Nittaya Muangklang to 12 months in jail and fines of 140,000 baht (US$ 4,218) for trespassing in the Sai Thong National Park. It is the most severe sentence yet for such an offence, according to rights groups tracking land cases.

“I will appeal, because I have not got justice,” Nittaya said in an interview.

Nittaya’s case is the latest involving villagers and indigenous communities in Thailand being evicted from land they consider theirs by birthright, as the rush to develop – or protect green space – leads to disputes over ownership.

Campaigners say evictions have risen since the military government passed a forest reclamation order 2014, which authorities say is essential for conservation. Nittaya and 13 others from her community were charged with trespassing after they disregarded orders to leave their homes and farms.

“My community and I are not trespassers,” she said.

“We lived here long before the policy was passed. If we are to leave this land, where will we go? How can we feed our children and our parents?” — Thomson Reuters Foundation