Today I was taken out [of prison] to the court to try a case as a lawyer. Perhaps it looked a bit odd, unfamiliar, for people to see me performing my duty as a lawyer while wearing a prisoner’s uniform. Thank you to P’Neng and P’Maem who came to the courtroom to offer encouragement and to all of my juniors from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights who served as assistants during the case.
In truth, the excitement has not stopped since I became a lawyer. It all began when I was an intern on a case about the e dispersal of demonstrations against the Thai-Malay gas pipeline in Chana district of Songkhla province. Then, I really got into trial work with the protest case of villagers from Bang Saphan district of Prachuab Khiri. Next, between 2007 and 2010, I tried a case for villagers in Nong Dang district of Saraburi province who were fighting against an electricity-producing plant. This was a rough case. In 2010, I provided assistance to the red shirt brothers and sisters, especially those in the northern and northeastern provinces.
Throughout my life as a lawyer, I have felt proud and greatly honored to use my knowledge in the service of society. Once, I was nearly locked up for arguing with the judges in a case of red shirt protestors in Chiang Rai province. But I managed to avoid it.
My lawyer’s robe is caked with dust and wrinkled from travel. There are tearstains born of hopes being dashed and hopes being fulfilled all mixed up together. This robe does not serve capitalists or oppressors: it serves villagers and the oppressed.
I am happy and proud today that I performed my duty. Thank you for the ongoing encouragement from my seniors, juniors and friends in legal circles. As long as there is still injustice in society, we face the tough job of transforming society to be better, to transform our society into one that is civilized.
I love and miss everyone.
Arnon Nampha
5 October 2023
