'Investigation moves forward concerning land rights defender assassination attempt', 05 February 2021

On 21 January 2021, Mr Dam Onmuang, a land rights defender from the Santi Pattana Community, attended the first court appointment on the case of his attempted murder last October. The Santi Pattana Community is a party to the Southern Peasants' Federation of Thailand (SPFT). The court accepted both of Mr Onmuang’s requests, which included the financial compensation of 100,000 baht (approx. 2775€) and for his own participation as co-plaintiff alongside the prosecutor during the case against Somphon Chimruang, the alleged perpetrator of the attack, who denied charges against him and decided to fight the case... In recent years, four members of the SPFT have been tragically assassinated: Mr Somporn Phatphum in 2010, Mrs Pranee Boonrak and Mr Monta Chukaew in 2012 and Mr Chai Boonthonglek in 2015. None of the perpetrators have been brought to justice... Mr Onmuang’s assassination attempt took place during the night of 20 October 2020 when he was on guard duty at the Santi Pattana Community’s security checkpoint... Mr Chimruang allegedly has close ties with a palm oil corporation with whom the Santi Pattana Community has been battling for years over a disputed plot of land. The palm oil company has repeatedly tried to forcibly evict SPFT members from the land where they live and has falsely claimed to be the legal owner of this territory... Mr Chimruang is known to have regularly accompanied the oil company’s lawyer during the negotiations with the community members...