A middle-aged couple from Isaan’s Kalasin province, in the news since 2010 when they were arrested for foraging for mushrooms on protected land, are back in the news today.
Out on bail since 2015, Udom Sirisorn, 54, and Daeng Sirisorn, 51, have been appealing their unexpectedly harsh 15-year sentence. Today, the Supreme Court reduced the sentence, which had already been halved from the original 30-year sentence upon their confession, to five years, reported Khaosod English.
Before making bail in 2015, the couple, appealed the decision in 2014 but the court denied them.
The couple reported that their lives went from bad to worse after their release on bail, as they were unable to find work and the husband, Udom, was hit by a truck just before they went to jail and sustained a brain hemorrhage for which did not receive proper care behind bars.
The family has fallen into THB100,000 debt for a loan taken to pay for legal fees and treatment for Udom, who had his wife’s brother-in-law refill his medication every month while he was in jail.
The case caught the nation’s attention for its harshness.
In 2013, there was a widespread campaign for their release, which Thais called a prime example of the country’s unfair justice system that allows the rich to go unpunished while the poorest suffer at the hands of the law.
