Expressed through graffiti and drawings, pictures and words on social media, a slain black leopard, a rare and protected species, has become a symbol of victims of the wealthy and powerful at the hands of the seemingly impotent justice system. It is used to remind people that the rich often have privileges to escape charges and jail while being able to keep their business empires intact.
Police have spent more than a month probing the wildlife poaching case involving construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta. The 63-year-old president of Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) and three other suspects (two of whom are ITD employees) were arrested on the night of Feb 4 while they were camping in a prohibited area of the World Heritage Thungyai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary in Kanchanaburi.
