Court proceedings have started in Bangkok relating to claims made by a Finnish NGO over the Thai pineapple industry.
Finnwatch published a report earlier this year in which it claimed that much of the pineapple on Finnish supermarket shelves was produced by labourers who were mistreated by Thailand’s Natural Fruit Company, a fruit processing firm.
The court case relates to an interview Hall gave to Al-Jazeera in which he outlined the report’s claims.
“They now have to prove that I wanted to damage the company,” said Hall at the start of proceedings. “I don’t know how they are going to do that. I worked for the public good and on behalf of migrant labourers.”
Natural Fruit is suing for criminal defamation and demanding 7 million euros in damages. There are three charges, and they could lead to a seven year jail sentence if Hall is convicted.
Natural Fruit denies the charges, citing ‘Happy Workplace’ awards it has received. Hall has researched the conditions of migrant labourers for several years, and said that many of them had a hopeless fate.
“In fact I only revealed the tip of the iceberg,” said Hall in court.
Thai industry has long been dependent on migrant labour, particularly from Myanmar. Many of the workers are undocumented, which leaves them vulnerable to abuse. Often they have been refused residence permits, but the companies keep them employed.
Natural Fruit has exported pineapple products to many western countries including Finland, where the two biggest supermarket chains SOK and Kesko have both sold its products.
The trial is expected to last until next Wednesday, with former Natural Fruits workers to be called as witnesses. Finnwatch has expressed concern about the proceedings.
“The judge previously suggested the court required migrant workers from Natural Fruit actually interviewed by Hall to give evidence in the case to prove Hall’s innocence. Ethically and practically protecting such witnesses is a huge challenge,” Finnwatch Executive Director Sonja Vartiala was quoted as saying in a statement.
Natural Fruits owner Virat Piyapompaiboon told the Bangkok Post that the publicity around Finnwatch’s revelations had been ‘upsetting’, citing some 40,000 critical messages he said were posted on social media. He also hinted that he might drop the case if Mr Hall apologized.