Finland Times

Finnwatch investigator Andy Hall spoke to the media as he arrives at the Bangkok South Criminal Court on Tuesday. Photo AFP-Lehtikuva.

Finnwatch investigator Andy Hall was on Tuesday sentenced to four years in prison in a defamation and Computer Crimes Act case brought against him by Natural Fruit Company Ltd.

 

The Bangkok court also fined Hall 150,000 bath, said Finnwatch, a Finnish civil society organisation.

 

According to Finnwatch, Hall’s prison sentence was reduced by one year to three years and suspended for two years because of his record as a human rights defender.

 

“We are shocked by today’s verdict. The report was authored and published by Finnwatch; we take full responsibility for it. Andy has been made a scapegoat in order to stifle other voices that speak out legitimately in support of migrant worker rights,” said Finnwatch Executive Director Sonja Vartiala in a statement.

 

The charges are related to publication of a report “Cheap Has a High Price” in 2013 by Finnwatch. The report outlined allegations of serious human rights violations at Natural Fruit’s pineapple processing plant in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province in Thailand.