Thai military have detained fishermen in eastern Thailand who earlier launched a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) about an eviction by the military.   

Rattanamanee Ponkla, member of the Subcommittee on Community and Resource Rights under the NHRC on Tuesday, 29 March 2016, posted a message on her Facebook profile that at about 5 am military officers detained Lamom Bunyong and two other fishermen from a fishing village in Mueang District of the eastern province of Rayong.

The NHRC committee member added that Lamom, 65, is a local fisherman who earlier filed a complaint to the NHRC over the eviction of a fishing community by the military and public administrators.

About 10 families were affected by the eviction which is currently being investigated by the NHRC, added Rattanamanee.

In 2014, Lamom and other fishermen in Rayong also filed a lawsuit against PTT Global Chemical after they were affected by a petroleum leakage by the company in 2013.

On the same day, Arpa Wangkiat, lecturer at the Department of Environmental Engineering of Rangsit University, also posted a message about the detention of Lamom and other fishermen on his Facebook profile.

The lecturer also posted an image of a document issued by the Royal Thai Navy about the detention of Lamom, which states that the officers invoked the authority under National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) No. 3/2015, an order which allows security officers absolute power to maintain national security, to arrest the fishermen.

The document also states that the officers lawfully arrested the fishermen and did not do anything which could harm the detainees physically or psychologically.