Karen spiritual leader Ko-ee Mimee has lost the final battle, with his last wish of going back home to the deep forest unfulfilled.
The 107-year-old man died while being treated for pneumonia at King Mongkut Memorial Hospital (Phra Chom Klao Hospital) in Phetchaburi province. But it's known that he's been traumatised with heartbrokenness for years.
Ko-ee, who was cordially called by the Thai media "grandpa", was born in 1911 as an ethnic Karen in a jungle on the border between Ratchaburi and Phetchaburi province. Yet his right to being a Thai citizen had been overlooked most of his life. It was in August this year that the Interior Ministry recognised his right, granting him Thai citizenship together with a 13-digit ID card.
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