“Thai court scraps mine defamation case in rare media win”, 16 Nov 2016

A Thai court…threw out defamation charges against a news agency for alleging environmental damage by a gold mine, a lawyer said, in a rare win for press freedom in the country.

Criminal defamation is a go-to weapon for powerful business and political players in Thailand, where activists, journalists and online critics are routinely swept up in court cases that often end in jail time.

The gold mine in northeastern Loei province has been the centre of a decade-long struggle between its Thai operator, Tungkum Ltd., and grassroots activists who say the mine has polluted the environment and harmed their health.

The company has filed more than a dozen lawsuits, including a criminal defamation case against state-funded broadcaster Thai PBS over a news clip produced by a 15-year-old girl who lives near the mine...

Judges decided to exonerate the network because it reported "comments based on good faith", [Thai PBS's lawyer Saengchai Rattanasereewong] said in an interview aired on Thai PBS...