Shin Corporation lawsuit hearing

What's happening today - Shin Corporation lawsuit hearing - October 11, 2004

Today is the first hearing of a civil suit by the Shin Corporation against Supinya Klangnarong, secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform along with the owner and editors of Thai Post. The suit seeks compensation of about 400 million baht for "adverse publicity" that supposedly resulted from an interview with Supinya that was published in Thai Post.

Supinya stated that the profits of Shin Corporation, founded by the Prime Minister and now owned by his family, have soared since the Prime Minister's Thai Rak Thai party came to power. Besides the civil suit, the defendants are also facing a criminal defamation suit that threatens them with lengthy prison sentences.

This legal action by the Shin Corporation will be widely watched as it has seen as creating a possible precedent that a ruling party and its top personalities could be immune from media oversight, much like they are in Malaysia, Singapore and other countries dominated by one political faction. It is likely that next hearing will be delayed until well after the next election to deflect further discussion of the case.