Two lawsuits on forest encroachment made headlines late last month. One involved a powerful family charged with encroaching over 6,200 rai of national forest. The other was a landless peasant charged with encroaching on 10 rai of forest land. The legal outcomes highlighted yet again the gross disparity, legal double standards and injustice involved in such cases.
In 2018, a famous vineyard and resort hotel on the rolling mountains in Loei's Phu Rua and Dan Sai districts were hit with forest encroachment charges. The property belonged to the Karnasuta, one of Thailand's richest families.
