Mining firm sues Thai schoolgirl for libel

About 40 villagers gathered yesterday to show their support for a schoolgirl who was reportedly asked by a school director to apologize to a gold-mining firm that is threatening to sue her and the school.

The villagers gathered in Srisongkram Wittaya School in Loei’s Wang Saphung district and defended the schoolgirl by tagging themselves with her nickname: “I am Ploy”.

The director of Srisongkram Wittaya School, Jirasak Chaichanasap, told The Nation yesterday the villagers met at the school because they didn’t want Ploy to apologize to the company.

The 15-year-old received a summons after the gold mining firm decided to file a libel suit against her in response to her appearance on a TV program called “Citizen reporting” on Thai-PBS.

Jirasak said he received a call from the mining firm’s law consultant on Monday, asking for the school to talk with the girl about her situation. He believed if the girl talked to the company, there would be a possibility for it to withdraw complaints against her.

“I didn’t say or force the girl to apologize to the company, and I have no idea where the media came up with the word ‘apologize’,” he said.

The school director said he had told the villagers he would not get involved in the case anymore.

Meanwhile, the legal consultant for the mining company, who talked with the school director on Monday, told The Nation the call was their only one. The company believed the girl herself was not experienced enough to deliver a media message which included technical terms beyond her knowledge.

He said villagers had told him there were activists arranging a workshop or learning camp near the site and he thought they may have had a connection with the girl.

He said the company didn’t want to sue the girl, it just wanted her to tell the truth about what had happened.

Patcharee Ritpro, the girl’s class teacher, said the girl had not shown up for roll call yesterday. Many other students were also absent from New Year celebration events.

Sor Rattanamanee Polkla, a lawyer and coordinator from the Community Resource Centre, said the girl had been summoned to present herself today but the court order was cancelled by police, who wanted more time to investigate the sensitive case.