Ex-Post writer honoured
Former Bangkok Post staff reporter Paritta Wangkiat yesterday won first prize in the print category of Amnesty International Thailand’s 2017 Media Awards.
The winners were announced yesterday during the award ceremony at the Sukosol Hotel, Bangkok. They were given in four categories: print media, online media, television reports of less than 20 minutes, and TV reports of 60 minutes.
The Post’s article “Too Little, too late for Lahu traumatised by youth’s killing,” published in the Spectrum section on May 28, 2017, won first prize in the print media category. The article written by Paritta concerns the aftermath of the suspected extrajudicial killing of Lahu rights activist Chaiyaphum Pasae on March 17, 2017. Paritta is still working as a freelance writer for the Post.
Chaiyaphum was shot dead by a soldier at a checkpoint near Thai-Myanmar border in Chiang Mai’s Chiang Dao district. The soldier accused Chiayaphum of resisting arrest and attempting to escape after he found 2,800 methamphetamine pills in his car, and shot at him supposedly in self-defence.
A military CCTV camera captured the scene but the footage has not been revealed to the public.
In the aftermath of the shooting, fear heightened in the Lahu community where people have lived with long years of discrimination and stigma left by the war on drugs. Paritta interviewed Lahu people in Chaiyaphum’s community and found many had experienced violence associated with the armed forces. She also interviewed military and local officials on their perspective.