Senior Thai national park official, 3 others, acquitted in 9-year-old case of missing activist

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Thailand has acquitted four national park employees, including a senior official, of the kidnapping and murder of an Indigenous rights activist who disappeared under suspicious circumstances more than nine years ago. The activist, Porlajee Rakchongcharoen, was last seen in the custody of Kaeng Krachan National Park officials in western Thailand’s Phetchaburi province on April 17, 2014. Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn, the park’s former chief, and the other defendants were arrested in 2019 after Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation uncovered partial remains they identified though DNA analysis. Porlajee had been leading the local Karen ethnic minority community in a lawsuit against Chaiwat over his efforts to forcibly evict them from the park.