Fishing Foes Not Forgotten: Prayuth revokes statute of limitations for illegal fishing infractions

Prayuth Chan-ocha has done that thing he does best today: invoking Section 44 of the interim constitution. This time, he’s using his absolute power to remove the statute of limitations for those facing illegal fishing charges. The reason is because many of the accused have simply fled the country in hopes of waiting out the statute.

Yesterday, Prayuth issued Order 69/2016 to this end and it took effect immediately.

The documentation says that there are at least 2,600 open cases of infractions of the Royal Ordinance on Fisheries B.E. 2558 (2015) and lots of those defendants named in the cases never showed up to face their charges, reported Bangkok Post.

The order also mentions the impact of the fishing industry on the country’s economic health as a reason for revoking the statute. The Thai fishing industry has had the world’s attention this year as illegal fishing practices and human trafficking violations have caused nations that buy Thai seafood exports to threaten bans while calling for reform and more stringent enforcement of laws.

 


Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on