Union leaders finally acquitted

In August 2009 the Bangkok police issued arrest warrants against three union activists for their role in a peaceful demonstration against the dismissal of nearly 2,000 workers at the Body Fashion Thailand factory, a wholly owned subsidiary of Triumph International. The case went on for several years until it was finally resolved in 2013, when the accused were acquitted.

Bunrawd Saiwong and Jitra Kotshadej, of the Triumph International Thailand Labour Union (TITLU) and Sunthorn Boonyod, of the Labour Congress Centre for Labour Unions of Thailand, were accused of  disorderly assembling, section 215 and 216 of the Thai Penal Code.

The court proceedings took four years, and in July 2013 the criminal court finally acquitted the accused of all charges. The judge reasoned that the obstruction of traffic relating to the protest in August 2009 did not harm anybody, and that the protest was carried out in good faith to support dismissed workers.

The prosecutor appealed against the verdict on three occasions, until there was no further possibility to do so. At this point, in November 2013, the case was officially closed with the delivery of oral and written confirmations to the accused of their acquittal.

 

See also:

2008-2009 Thai Union President Fired