The court in Isan, Thailand’s Northeast, tried a rubber farmer accused of growing rubber trees in national park’s land plots.  

According to Chai Thongdeenok, a member of Thai Ban Phuraisit Sakon Nakhon, a local group which promotes land rights for the locals in the northeastern province of Sakon Nakhon, the court on Wednesday held a witness examination hearing of Sin Ngoenpakdee, a villager of Chad-Rabeab Village of Phu Phan District in the province.

At the hearing, 10 plaintiff’s witnesses testified on the case. The court will hold another hearing on Thursday.

Sin is one of the 31 villagers from the Chad-Rabeab Village who have been charged for encroaching into Pa Dong Chom Phu Phan and Dong Kracher National Park in Sakon Nakhon Province.

Similar to his neighbors, he is accused of growing rubber trees in protected forest areas.  

Earlier on 12 June, the Provincial Court sentenced Pakdee Sriswasdee, a defendant accused with the same charge, to nine months in jail and 10,000 Baht fine. However, the jail term is suspended for two years.

Last month, Chanchira Deeya, another suspect of the same charge, received 2 years imprisonment and 35,000 Baht fine from the court. However, since the defendant pleaded guilty, the jail term and the fine were reduced in half with the prison term suspended for two years.

At the hearing, many of Sin’s neighbors came to the court to give him moral support.

Chai who also came to support Sin said that since the enactment of the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)’s Order No. 64/2014, a lot of villagers’ rubber plantation in the province have been cut down by the authorities as the rubber farmers have been accused of trespassing into protected areas.

He mentioned that in August last year the authorities cut down the rubber trees on 20 Rai (0.032 sq.km) of land in the area which he planted.

After the junta issued Orders 64/2014 and 66/2014 to protect and reclaim Thailand’s protected areas in June 2014, many poor communities countrywide have been evicted by the authorities.

According to the NGO Coordinating Committee on Development (NGO-COD) of the Northeast, since last year, 103 small-scale farmers have already been accused of encroaching on protected areas and almost 1,800 in the Northeast have now been prohibited from using their farmland and are about to receive court summons for alleged encroachment.