The case was the second trafficking case in Thailand in which offenders were sentenced to more than years in jail. Last year the criminal court sentenced three men to up to years each for trafficking children for prostitution. Papop Siamhan, an independent lawyer with expertise in human trafficking, said child prostitution cases resulted in long prison sentences because they often involved several laws and many children.
Earlier this year the United States praised Thailand for sentencing convicted traffickers and complicit officials to significant prison terms in its annual Trafficking in Persons TIP report.
Thailand was ranked as a Tier 2 country in the report, meaning it is making significant efforts to combat the crime. Since January this year, courts have handed down prison sentences in trafficking cases of which 74 were sentences of more than 10 years, according to the Court of Justice.
Archana Kotecha, Asia region director and head of legal at anti-slavery charity Liberty Shared, said long sentences can be effective deterrents when they are addressed at kingpins in trafficking cases and not low level offenders. But she said this must be accompanied by seizure of assets which should be used to pay compensation to victims. Discover Thomson Reuters. Directory of sites. United States. Big Story Nanchanok Wongsamuth. In both cases, courts capped the imprisonment period at 50 years in accordance with Thai law.
