Yala Provincial Court

Family Court

Yala Provincial Court is a court of first instance in the province of Yala in southern Thailand. It is located in Sukhayang Road, Sateng, in Mueang Yala District. It has jurisdiction over all of Yala Province except Betong District, which falls under Betong Provincial Court, and excluding juvenile and family cases, which fall under Yala Juvenile and Family Court.

The province of Yala is in the area of the South Thailand insurgency and cases at the court are often related to the insurgency.^[1]^[2]^[3]

There have been claims that there may have been political interference in the administration of justice in the court. In October 2019, Kanakorn Pianchana, a senior judge there, shot himself after claiming to have been pressured to change a verdict in a capital case from not guilty to guilty despite a lack of evidence to convict.^[4] The Pheu Thai Party called for a government investigation to establish if there were irregularities at the court.^[5] The incident led to an official statement from the Thailand Court of Justice that senior judges were empowered to review the decisions of more junior judges but not to change them.^[6]

References

^ "Court frees man held for bombing of market in Yala". Bangkok Post.
^ "Thai Court Issues 2 Arrest Warrants for Deadly Attacks in Deep South". Benar News.
^ "Yala court jails seven insurgents for torching vehicles of construction firm". nationthailand. September 16, 2019.
^ He Acquitted 5 Men of Murder, Then Shot Himself. Hannah Beech and Ryn Jirenuwat, New York Times, 14 October 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
^ Pheu Thai calls on government to probe alleged meddling in judicial affairs. Thai PBS World, 5 October 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
^ "Regional chief judges are legally empowered to screen verdicts of junior judges". www.thaipbsworld.com.