<p>A provincial court has handed a six-month suspended jail term to a prominent anti-junta activist while putting six other activists on probation for one year.</p> <p>On 2 November 2017, the Khon Kaen Provincial Court read the verdict for seven pro-democracy youth activists indicted for contempt of court for organising activities on 10 February 2017 in symbolic support of Jatupat ‘Pai Dao Din’ Boonpattararaksa, They aimed to draw attention to issues in Thailand’s justice system.</p>

<div> <div>A military court has accepted a case against eight individuals who participated in seminar last year on the junta-backed constitution. Three are human rights defenders who came merely to observe the event.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 17 October 2017, Khon Kaen Military Court <a href="https://prachatai.com/journal/2017/10/73732">accepted a case</a> against five student activists and three human rights defenders. </div></div>

<p>The security forces have sent a security officer to video-record the trial of activists charged with contempt of court despite the court’s prohibition.</p>

<p>The defence lawyer of Jatuphat ‘Pai Dao Din’ Boonpattararaksa has revealed that the renowned democracy activist chose to plead guilty because he was being tried in camera, with observers and the media not allowed into the courtroom.</p> <p>After standing firm behind bars for almost eight months, the abrupt decision of Jatuphat, a law student and key democracy activist, to&nbsp;<a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/7327">plead guilty</a>&nbsp;took many people by surprise.</p>

<p>A provincial court has held the first hearing in the lèse majesté trial of Jatuphat ‘Pai Dao Din’ Boonpattararaksa in camera.</p> <p>On 3 August 2017, the provincial court of Khon Kaen held the first plaintiff witness hearing in the case of Jatuphat, a well-known anti-junta activist detained for royal defamation.</p> <p>Before the hearing began, the court posted a notice in front of the courtroom informing about 10 people who came to show support for Jatuphat and other observers that the trial would be held in camera.</p>

<p dir="ltr">An embattled anti-junta activist ‘Pai Dao Din’ has received a prestigious Gwangju Prize for Human Rights while attending a trial at a military court. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>On 22 May 2017, Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM), was taken to the Military Court of Khon Kaen Province for attending a trial. &nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr">A provincial court has once again refused to release Pai Dao Din, making it impossible for the activist to attend a human rights award ceremony in South Korea.</p> <p dir="ltr">On 8 May 2017, the Provincial Court of Khon Kaen denied a bail request with 700,000 baht surety for Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM).</p>

<p>The posterchild of the democracy movement in Thailand, detained for lèse majesté, has won the prestigious Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.</p> <p>The selection committee of the South Korean May 18 Memorial Foundation announced that Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM), is the winner of the 2017 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>A provincial court has once again refused to release Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, telling his defence lawyer to stop saying that his client’s rights are being violated.</p> <p>On 21 March 2017, the Provincial Court of Khon Kaen held the preliminary hearing on the case of Jatuphat, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM).</p>

<p>The authorities have accused three more youth activists of contempt of court for joining a peaceful gathering demanding Pai Dao Din’s release from prison.</p> <p>On 20 March 2017, <a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=3760">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights</a>&nbsp;reported that the well-known anti-junta activist Sirawit ‘Ja New’ Serithiwat; Panupong Sritananuwat, an activist from the&nbsp;<a href="https://prachatai.org/english/category/dao-din?page=1">Dao Din group</a>&nbsp;based at Khon Kaen University; and another law student who requested anonymity had received court notices.</p>

<p>Student activists from Khon Kaen University have been accused of contempt of court for participating in a peaceful gathering to demand Pai Dao Din’s release. &nbsp;</p> <p>On 17 March 2017,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=3741">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)&nbsp;</a>reported that activists from the activist <a href="https://prachatai.org/english/category/dao-din?page=1">Dao Din group</a>, based in Khon Kaen University, and New Generation Citizens (NGC), another political activist group in the region, received a court notice.</p>