<p>Loei Provincial Court has dismissed a civil lawsuit filed by a gold mining company against key leaders of an anti-mine group. &nbsp;</p> <p>The Provincial Court of the northeastern province of Loei on Wednesday, 30 March 2016, dismissed charges against six key members of Khon Rak Ban Koed (KRBK), translated as ‘People Who Love Their Home’, an anti-mine group comprising villagers from six villages in Wang Saphung District of Loei.</p>

<p><strong><em>Update</em></strong><em>: At least 100 more police and military officers were deployed at Khao Luang Tambon (Subdistrict) Administration Organization office at about 10 am on Tuesday to maintain order. At 10:20 am, Samai Pakmee, the chief of Khao Luang TAO council, informed the villagers that the meeting to finalise the renewal of a mining concession for Tungkam mining company will be postponed until further notice. &nbsp;</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The Thai authorities deployed officers to bar anti-mine villagers to enter a meeting over renewing a mining concession.</p>

<p>Child rights organisations have urged a gold mine operator in Thailand’s northeast to drop a criminal defamation lawsuit against a 10^th grade student for allegations that the company polluted her village. &nbsp;</p> <p>On Wednesday, 16 December 2015, 22 civil society organisations on child rights and protection issued a joint statement, urging Tungkam Co. Ltd., a gold mining company operating in Wang Saphung District of northeastern Loei Province, to drop a lawsuit against Wanphen Khunna, a grade 10 student from Si Songkhram School in the district.</p>

<p>The operator of a controversial gold mine in Loei Province in Isan, Thailand’s Northeast, has sued a high school student for defamation.</p> <p>On Sunday, 13 December 2015, Wanphen Khunna, a grade 10 student from Si Songkhram School and her family, natives of Khao Luang Subdistrict, Wang Saphung District, Loei Province, received a letter from Loei office of the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection, summoning Wanphen and her family members for interrogation.</p>

<p>A gold mine company is threatening to sue a high school student who reported the environmental effects of mining activities in Isan, Thailand’s northeast.</p> <p>On 4 September 2015, Suphab Phrommanee, the village chief of Ban Phuthapfa Phattana, Khao Luang Subdistrict, Wang Saphung District, Loei Province, summoned Wanphen Khunna, a grade 10 student from Si Songkhram School and her family for a talk at his house on 6 September 2015.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The Thai military in Isan, Thailand Northeast, prevented an environmental youth camp in an area with an ongoing mine conflict in Loei Province from taking place, saying that the event might affect national security.</p>

<p>Thai villagers from seven provinces came together to petition the authorities to resist mining activities, demanding an investigation into health impacts allegedly resulting from mining.</p>

<p>Community members, lawyers, academics, and students from the Northeast and Bangkok convened this Friday to kick off a new political movement to defend the rights of Isaan people under martial law.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7637/16901116115_b2d30c9eed_z.jpg" /></p> <p><span>Community members openly discuss widespread repression under martial law in a rare event held in Bangkok on Friday.</span></p>

<p><span>Information Release on Tungkum Limited Company (TKL) will withdraw nine&nbsp;</span><span>legal cases against 33 villagers who are members of the anti-mining and&nbsp;</span><span>land-rights group Khon Rak Ban Koed (KRBK).</span></p>

<p>The military summoned Loei anti-mine village activists about links with five anti-junta Khon Kaen students arrested earlier this week while some soldiers allegedly plan to enter the mining area in conflict to transport ore deposits.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Although the junta promised to eradicate the alleged corruption of the former civilian government which served the capitalists, the new Mining Bill is designed to give mining businesses easy access to more land without the need for mitigation of environmental and social impacts in most areas. &nbsp;Meanwhile marginalised people affected by mines will find it difficult under martial law to oppose the bill.</p> <p></p>

<div>BANGKOK (31 October 2014) – The United Nations Human Rights Office for South East Asia (OHCHR) is seriously concerned that criminal defamation is being used in Thailand as a means to pressure human rights defenders. In the latest example on 29 October, the Phuket Provincial Court decided to proceed with a criminal defamation suit against Mr. Surapan Rujichaiwat from Loei province in north-eastern Thailand. The suit has been brought by Tungkum Company Limited, a mining company. </div>