Three years after a group of villagers from the Bang Kloi indigenous Karen community were prosecuted for returning to their ancestral land in the Kaeng Krachan forest, the community is calling on the new government to help them return to the original location of their village at Chai Phaen Din, from which they were evicted over 20 years ago.

Pinnapa Pruksapan, widow of murdered indigenous rights activist Porlajee Rakchongcharoen, has requested that the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) continue to protect her and her family, after the DSI said that they are not important witnesses in Porlajee’s murder trial and will no longer keep them under its protection.

As four park officials charged with pre-meditated murder for their alleged involvement in the abduction and death of indigenous right activist Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen go on trial, civil society organizations have demanded that they be suspended to make sure the judicial process cannot be tampered with.

Human rights lawyer Waraporn Utairangsee denied allegations by Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn, former Superintendent of Kaeng Krachan National Park, that  her legal representation of Karen people evicted from their long-established community in the park area involved malicious intent.

Public prosecutors have filed formal charges against a group of officials who stand accused of murdering and concealing the body of a land rights activist back in 2014. Despite the move, civil rights advocates remain skeptical that justice will be served in the case.