A variety of domestic and international organizations are calling on Thailand to investigate the death of Prajob Nao-opas, an environmental activist from Tambon Nong Nae of Chachoengsao’s Phanom Sarakham district, who was shot to death on Monday.
The Nation reports that Prajob had notified authorities that he suspected he was being followed shortly before his death. Police, however, failed to provide him with an escort and earlier this week, a gunman shot him down in a Phanom Sarakham garage.
Prajob originally gained notoriety for protesting the dumping of toxic waste in the Phanom Sarakham district’s waterways. Industrial centers, mostly from the east of the country, had been employing the district’s ponds and rivers as dumping grounds, creating water conditions that proved hazardous to local farmers.
Last February, Prajob launched a campaign to bring the issue to the government’s attention, though official action was not taken until this August.
In the wake of Prajob’s death, a variety of domestic and international news outlets have called on the Thai government to investigate his murder, citing suspicions that it may have been a contracted killing.
TrustLaw, a nonprofit related to Reuters, called on the Thai government to “immediately investigate” Prajob’s death. The Bangkok Post printed an encomium to Prajob and the Nation has diligently covered his death and its ensuing investigation.
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