The Appeal Court has sentenced a villager in Lampang to 1 year in prison and a fine of 400,000 baht for encroaching on national park land, despite evidence that the plot in question has been occupied since 1954.

Indigenous woman human rights defender Katima Leeja was visited by a plainclothe military officer around a week after she led a protest against alleged violence from forest authorities in a land dispute confrontation. 

In the case of 14 Sapwai villagers from Chaiyaphum Province, sentenced to imprisonment and fines by the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal after refusing to move from their land under the ‘forest reclamation’ policy, their lawyer indicated that the problem started from missing survey data leading to a lack of legal documents, and their defence which the court refused to consider.

Suphap Khamlae, wife of disappeared land rights activist Den Khamlae, has been released upon completing a six-month jail sentence for land encroachment. At 65, Ms Suphap, of Khok Yao Village, Khon San District, Chaiyaphum Province, insists that she will continue to fight for the Khok Yao community until justice is achieved.

After a court ruled them guilty of causing global warming, 11 villagers have appealed and pleaded for a court fee exemption. The authorities are increasingly using judicial harassment against local people whose traditional homes overlap with national park areas, says an NGO.   On 29 May 2017, villagers from Huai Kontha, Phetchabun province, appealed their case before Lom Sak Provincial Court.