"Charges against Loei activists dismissed, mining protest to go on", 20 April 2018

A Loei court has dismissed all charges against seven female activists accused of violating public assembly laws, just weeks after a United Nations team called on the government to end attacks on human rights campaigners.

The Loei Provincial Court dropped all charges against them, stating they had "innocently expressed their opinions, which is within their basic rights under the system of democracy."

Pornthip Hongchai, one of the acquitted defendants, said..."...Villagers know that the water is contaminated and we have to be careful and look after ourselves. We still have to buy water to drink and cook with. We've been buying water since 2009 when there was a public health announcement."

...[T]he UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights said it was concerned about "unreasonable and unwarranted restrictions" on affected communities.

...[T]he working group called on authorities to "end recurring attacks, harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and community representatives."