<p>Petr Donatek, a 46-year-old Czech man alleged to have hired two martial artists to attack Thai political refugees in Paris in 2019, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for complicity in aggravated violence.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The trial of Petr Donatek, a 46-year-old Czech man alleged to have hired two martial artists to attack Thai political refugees in Paris in 2019 has finally taken place. During the proceedings, Donatek insisted that he was not the one who planned the attack. A verdict is expected on 2 March.</p>

<p>The trial of the alleged mastermind behind an assault on two Thai political refugee in Paris has once again been postponed due to a lack of interpreter and a sudden mass protest.</p>

<p>A Paris Court has postponed the appeal trial of Petr Donatek, a Czech man who allegedly hired two henchmen to assault Aum Neko and Nithiwat Wannasiri, two Thai refugees in France, in 2019. The rescheduling leaves questions about the alleged ringleader of the crime immediately unanswered.</p>

<p>Nithiwat Wannasiri, known as Jom Faiyen, a Thai activist, musician and political refugee in France, was attacked in 2020 by 2 Czech men along with Aum Neko, another Thai political refugee. Now the judicial process ended in late 2021, he has revealed what the case entails, underlining the claim that the incident stemmed from politics rather than racial hatred.</p>

<div>7th of March, the day before International Women&rsquo;s Day, was an important day for Aum Neko. It was the day, after four years of living as a political refugee in Paris, that her gender transition was legally recognised: the day she legally became Madame Saran Chuichai. But for Aum, legal recognition is irrelevant to her experience of womanhood. In her eyes, she has been a woman all her life and believes passionately in &quot;self-determination&quot; when it comes to gender identity. Aum is a transgender Thai woman. Unlike in Thailand, where trans people cannot change their gender, gender recognition laws were introduced in France in 2016.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><p>&nbsp;</p>

<div><div>The UNHCR has denied its involvement with a Thai refugee accused of lèse majesté living in France and also condemned her for disrespecting King Bhumibol&rsquo;s death.</div></div>

<div>A hyper-royalist doctor has urged Thai people in Paris to hunt for a lèse-majesté refugee and those who shelter her.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 16 October, Rienthong Nanna, chairman of the ultra-royalist vigilante group Rubbish Collection Organisation (RCO), <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=596360307238974&amp;id=437000306508309">posted</a> on his Facebook account the address of Wanna, a Thai living in Paris. </div>

<p>France has granted refugee status to Thai political refugees and lèse majesté suspects who fled Thailand after the 2014 coup d’état.</p> <p>According to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/BBCThai/photos/a.1527194487501586.1073741828.1526071940947174/1670422789845421/?type=1&amp;fref=nf">BBC Thai Service</a>, the French government on 12 June granted refugee status to&nbsp;<a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/5082">Saran Chuichai</a>, aka Aum Neko, a renowned Thai transgender student activist, who fled to France shortly after the coup d’état on 22 June 2014.</p>

<div> <div>Jaran Ditapichai is a anti-establishment red-shirt leader, leftist and ex-communist who has fled Thailand to France after the coup on 22 May 2014. Prachatai interviewed Jaran about his exile life and how he will fight for Thai democracy from abroad. &nbsp;</div> </div>

<div>Since the coup on 22 May 2014, about a hundred pro-democracy activists have fled the country because they may end up in jails due to political charges. Aum Neko, a provocative transgender activist, fled to France after the coup and is beginning her new life. Aum tells about her long-term plan abraod and how she will continue to campaign for the Thai democracy.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>