Southern villagers rallied at Nakhon Si Thammarat Administrative Court with the body of an anti-mine activist, who was assassinated on Sunday, after the court ruled in favour of the villagers to temporarily halt a mining operation.

According to Thairath Newspaper, hundreds of villagers from Krung Ching Subdistrict in the Southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat on Wednesday morning rallied at the Administrative Court with the body of Pithan Thongpanang to continue to press the court to stop the mining operations in the district.

Pithan,45, was ambushed and shot dead on Sunday. He played a vital role in leading 55 villagers from Krung Ching Subdistrict to Nakhon Si Thammarat Administrative Court to file charges against the Provincial Industry Office, the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Primary Industries and Mines, the Nakhon Si Thammarat Governor, the Provincial Public Health Office, Krung Ching Subdistrict Administrative Organization, and the Pollution Control Department, all of which were allegedly responsible for giving out a ten-year mining concession on 207 acres of land in Krung Ching Subdistrict to P&S Barite Mining Co. Ltd. and to urge the court to revoke the concession.

After the charges were filed, the Administrative Court issued an order to temporarily halt the mining operation because of the alleged environmental impacts caused by the mine. Moreover, the mining area has been designated as a protected area for villagers to utilize, according to a 1998 Cabinet resolution.

Pithan was shot dead only a week before talks were scheduled for 9 December between the mining company, representatives of the National Council for Peace and Order, relevant public agencies, and the villagers to find a solution to the mining conflict.

According to Matichon, a villager who asked not to be identified stated that after the villagers filed charges against the mining interests, the Administrative Court summoned the local village leaders to discuss with the mining business to withdraw the charges and the villagers were intimidated.

“Before he was killed, he knew that he had 500,000 baht (15,200 USD) bounty against him and identified who wanted him to be killed. It is all caused by the mine issue. It was already announced that if the mine can’t be open, Pithan would die, and he did die” said the father of the late mining activist, cited on ASTV’s Manager Online.

Manager Online also added that five villagers out of the 55 who earlier filed charges against the public institutions involved in giving out the mining concession to P&S Barite Mining Co. Ltd. have withdrawn the charges after Pithan’s assassination.

In response to the rally on Wednesday, Sanya Siwiroj, Director of Nakhon Si Thammarat Administrative Court Office, and Thanakorn Sarungkarn, an officer responsible for administrative cases, stated that the court will still maintain its order to halt the mining operation in the area despite the mining company’s complaint to lift the order.