<p>After repeated threats and assaults, villagers and activists protesting the impact of a&nbsp; gold mine have been shot at by a local government employee as they were trying to prevent ore from being smuggled out of the mine.</p>

<div> <div>The police on Friday released a freelance environmental journalist on bail after arresting him for trespassing into a disputed gold mine in 2015.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jamon Sonpednarin was released from Wang Saphung District Police Station in the northeastern province of Loei on Friday morning after a university lecturer offered her civil servant position as the bail.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The arrest warrant accuses Jamon of trespassing into a controversial gold mine in Wang Saphung District in 2015 which was operated by Tungkum Co Ltd before its closure. </div></div>

<p>The prosecutor has charged seven anti-mine activists in Isaan with breaking the public assembly law and intimidating public officials.</p> <p>On 25 July 2017, the prosecutor indicted seven members of the anti-mine activist group Khon Rak Ban Koed (KRBK) (translated as ‘People Who Love Their Home’) from six villages in Wang Saphung District of the northeastern province of Loei.</p> <p>The seven are Phonthip Hongchai, Ranong Kongsaen, Wiron Ruchichaiwat, Suphat Khunna, Bunraeng Sithong, Mon Khunna, and Lamphloen Rueangrit.</p>

<p>The head of the Subdistrict Administrative Organisation (SAO) of an area battling a gold mine company has defeated a lawsuit filed against him by a gold mine operator.</p> <p>On 9 March 2017, the Loei Provincial Court dismissed a lawsuit against Samai Phakmi, President of the SAO of Khao Luang Subdistrict, Wang Saphung District, Loei.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The Central Administrative Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by anti-mine villagers against both a gold mine company and Thailand’s Industry Minister, saying villagers’ claims about the environmental effects of the mine are not credible. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">On 28 December 2016, the Central Administrative Court in Bangkok dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Minister of Industry, the Director-General of the Department of Primary Industries and Mines, and Tungkum Company, a gold mine operator in Loei.</p>

<p>Police in northeastern Thailand have summoned seven anti-mine activists, accusing them of intimidating district officials and unlawful assembly.</p> <p>On 18 December 2016, seven members of an activist group called Khon Rak Ban Koed (KRBK), translated as ‘People Who Love Their Home’, reported to Wang Saphung Police Station in Loei Province after one of them received a summons in early December.</p> <p>KRBK is an anti-mine group comprising villagers from six villages in Wang Saphung District.</p>

<p dir="ltr">In a landmark case for media, a Thai court has dismissed a criminal defamation case filed against the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) and four media workers for airing a program on environment impacts of the gold mining industry.</p> <p dir="ltr">On 16 November 2016, the Bangkok Criminal Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Tungkam Co. Ltd against Thai PBS and four of its current and previous employees. Tungkam is a gold mining company operating in Wang Saphung District of the northeastern Loei Province.</p>

<p>Anti-mine activists in Isaan, fired back against a mining company, demanding the company 3.18 million baht for judicially harassing them.</p> <p>On 12 September 2016, about 30 members of Khon Rak Ban Koed (KRBK), translated as ‘People Who Love Their Home’, attended a hearing at Loei Provincial Court, the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.citizenthaipbs.net/node/9620">Thai PBS reported</a>.</p> <p>The hearing was held to consider the KRBK’s request not to pay the court fee in a civil lawsuit they filed against Tungkum Company, a gold mine operator in Loei.</p>

<div>A company who operated a highly controversial gold mine in northeastern Leoi Province has started libel suits in Leoi and Bangkok against a 15-year-old girl for her citizen reporting about the mine. While Bangkok police are investigating the case, the juvenile legal office in Leoi ruled that the company could not sue her.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The Juvenile Observation and Protection Office in Leoi Province on Thursday, 2 June 2016, ruled that the company could not file the criminal defamation suit against Wanpen Khuna to the Juvenile Court. </div>

<p>A Provincial Court in Isan, Thailand’s northeast, has handed down jail terms to two military officers accused of involvement in a violent assault against anti-mine villagers while dismissing lawsuits filed by a mining company against anti-mine activists.</p>

<p>Despites laws on community rights under previous constitutions, academics and activists pointed out that rights over resources for local communities have been put under severe strain from the authoritarian regime of the Thai junta. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Academics and human rights activists gathered at Thammasat University, Tha Prachan Campus in Bangkok, on Monday, 9 May 2016, at a public forum titled ‘Judicial Process, Community Rights and Human Defenders’ to discuss community rights under the military regime in Thailand. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>