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Letter to Somyot, Week 80

Sukanya Prueksakasemsuk's letter to her husband on week 80 of his detention.

000

Week 80 of the prolonged detention

23 December 2012

Dear P’Yot,

A hectic week passed and I was so tired and out of stamina from the long term campaign for Free Somyot together with many parties. Our comrades from Thailand and foreign countries lent their support and prayed for the verdict to be released and end the prolonged detention which has already been 20 months. The verdict still could not be given due to the change of the panel of judges and they have to review many documents and evidence, so they scheduled it for 23 Jan 2013 at 9.00 am. Nevertheless, the date is fixed now which is better than before when we could not predict anything. I have let it go whatever will happen; I thought that everyone did the best job they could do. It was regrettable that you will not be able to visit grandma and grandpa together with us in this coming New Year holiday. Grandma asks me about you every time I go there but grandpa cannot remember anything. She asked me not to abandon you and take good care of you.

You should have seen on 19 Dec 12 when many people gathered and joined us to observe the court hearing and bear witness. This was a great feat that ordinary people like you who have no big position or authority get great support from people around the world. Every one voluntarily came to court without any coercion. I thought that they wanted to prove the existence of justice in Thailand and witness a verdict which has not happened and been postponed as I said before. Anyway, I have seen some good signs which might lead to a fair trial but I don’t want to expect too much from the result and try to stay calm. I certainly won’t give up. Many people came to talk to you and hold your hands tightly to express their care and concern which proved that what you have done was right.

What we need to focus on urgently now is to finalize the concluding remarks and submit them to the court. I have called Khun Suwit and followed up closely. He has promised to amend it in line with your comments; some weak points need to be removed and some strong points need to be added. In my opinion, I think we should win this trial especially since there have been some recent verdicts where the editors were not accountable for the articles that they did not write and eventually they were acquitted. The panel of judges could use this as a basis to consider your trial too.

I just went to the theatre with our kids and watched “Life of Pi” which Tai recommended and there is good feedback about it. It is a story of a young Indian man named Pi who was a son of a Zoo owner. The family was about to relocate to Canada and headed there by boat but an accident killed his parents and elder brother and left him alone with the animals that were transferred together. In the end only a Bengal tiger and Pi were left together.  Pi faced the beast which could destroy him any time but the tiger was in as difficult a situation as him too, with only two of them in the same boat. If Pi did not look at the world from the bright side with a positive attitude or lost faith, he could be the victim of the tiger or the mad sea. Pi never gave up, he said many times to himself not to despair and to keep hope pf survival, and eventually he did.   

Till now I thought that because you have never surrendered or lost faith which is the right thing, the end of the trial is not far from now and I hope you, like Pi ,will not despair.   

Love you as always

Joop

23 Dec 2012 : 18.53 hrs.

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